


881st squad

by dualcolours



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: its swtcw loosely at least lmao, mostly just mildly connected one-shot type stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2020-01-14 19:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 31,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18482929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dualcolours/pseuds/dualcolours
Summary: a set of one-shot type chapters about me(taylor) and my friend alex's star wars characters.





	1. in which hotwire gets lowkey dad-lectured at

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hotwire gets the "i'm a disappointed dad" voice from ghost about something he said

     "Will all due respect sir, I'll be sappy whenever I want. I don't give a shit- I love you, fuck off!"

     Hotwire glared at Ghost, one hand on his hip and the other angrily waving some medical tool in the clone commanders' direction, who looked completely unbothered by what was probably just a temperature scanner. Ghost simply raised an eyebrow silently, and Hotwire shook the tool again, something in it rattling.

     "Can I interrupt before you threaten to put that poor scanner where it shouldn't go?" Sox's tired voice came from a bed a bit further back in the medical bay, and Hotwire turned to glare at his resting brother as he continued, " He's not saying that you can't be sappy and gross and all that, but maybe it's not the best idea to say something like 'I only care about my brothers- fuck the jedi. Keiplr can stay but he's on thin fucking ice.' right before walking directly in front of a bunch of Jedi and their Padawans."

     "Your point is entirely right and I absolutely hate it, so shut up and go the fuck back to sleep." Hotwire snapped at him, though his voice lacked any real bite to it. Sox put his hands up in surrender and rolled over to face the wall while Hotwire turned to face Ghost once more. The commanders' face was as blank as always, and he gestured towards an empty bed and a chair. Huffing, Hotwire moved to sit in the chair only for Ghost to firmly grab his shoulder and turn him towards the bed instead.

     Hotwire went to argue, but the look on Ghosts' face killed anything he might've said and the medic shuffled over to sit on the side of the bed. Ghost took his seat on the chair, turning it to face him, a look on his face that really just made Hotwire feel like a misbehaved cadet. They sat in silence for a few moments, Hotwire shuffling side to side for a few moments before quiet snoring came from the bed were Sox was resting.

     "What Sox was saying is true, Hot'ika." Ghosts' voice was steady and as toneless as ever, but Hotwire felt himself relax slightly. If Ghost was truly mad, then he wouldn't have used the fond nickname. "I'm not saying the Jedi are stellar, but grumble about them to us, but it's still early in the wars- you know some of the Jedi still don't like the idea of our brothers." Hotwire pulled a face.

     "Yeah, the GAR probably have some hot senate debates about it." The medic grumbled, and Ghost nodded slightly and stood.

     "The point is, Hotwire, that I'd rather you bitch me to me than risk your shiny white-armoured butt because some old-ass Jedi with a bad attitude heard you."

     "..Yeah, I hear you, Ghost." Hotwire sighed, and Ghost reached over to pat him on the shoulder.

     "Now you get some rest too. I know Sox always makes a fuss, but all he has is a bit of a cold, he'll survive." Ghosts' voice was firm, and Hotwire rolled his eyes, waving him out as he settled back against the bed. Ghost dimmed the lights as he left, and the door had barely hissed shut before a message beeped on the commtab that the medic never took off.

     ::I'm serious, Hot'ika. Don't make me send Pup over, I will give him full permission to not only puppy-eyes you into submission but also to lay on you until you fall asleep.:: Hotwire laughed, though he knew full well that Ghost wasn't bluffing. He pulled the light covers over him and tucked his head under the pillow, and let Sox's endless snoring pull him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so vod is the mando'a word for brother/sibling, and ori'vod/vod'ika mean older/younger brother/sibling, and i've seen in a few fics where they take part of the clones name and add the 'ika at the end (idk if it does with the ori' as well so its a good thing that hotwire is younger than ghost!) and I Like That A Lot so there it is  
> Jetii is mando'a for jedi
> 
> me, holding up a mando'a dictionary: i just think its neat  
> im trying to learn it wheeze
> 
> written by alex


	2. oh fuck! shrek lava

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ghost finds himself unable to continue in what should be a simple mission to check the planet damage on Oselion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> taylor wrote this one! commander ghost is his dude, general keiplr/keipling is mine, and we share the Clone Boyes  
> also oselion is our planet
> 
> taylor please dont kill me for the title of this idk what else to cal it
> 
> written by taylor

     the 881st was a long lasting troop. the general wasn’t in charge of large amounts of clone troopers, only his handful of men and his commander, unlike generals like skywalker and windu. so it only made since that the casuality levels on the side of general keipling were lower- have less people, and you’ll see less of them die.

    if you asked some of the 881st, they’d say it wasn’t the only reason- they had lost brothers after all. tide, doubleshot, simmons, they were all members of the 881st. sox would insist it was because of the combined effort of the general and ghost. ghost (true to his name) would quietly take care of his men- always making sure there was a fresh pot of caff, offering quiet company after a hard mission, tapping out the signals for ‘all-clear’ or ‘my-watch’ late at night after rough nightmares. keiplr never left a battle without every one of his men (even when it meant going against orders), keeping his room open to any of them at any time, and making sure he knew them well- their concerns, their worries- their fears.

    which brought them to the situation at hand. they had been tasked with mapping out environmental hazards on oselion, general keiplings’ home planet. it should have been easy- they had come to see oselion as a second home of sorts, everyone knew the general and his troops. they had come to know the small planet for its unpredictable weather events- thundering snowstorms, pouring rain while the sun shone without any covering clouds.  
this weather wasn’t natural. the seperatists had caused some damage to a hyper-sensitive volcano, a weapon had split the earth and caused the molten rock to bubble to the surface in wide cracks. the superheated rock bubbled and spat, sizzling and burning any vegetation near it. their job was to monitor the damage and report back if any evacuation was needed or if something else should be done.

    but while keipler stood on the other side of the crack, tripshot waiting beside him, ghost found himself frozen to the spot. his mouth felt dry and he could feel the sweat dripping down his face within his helm. his hud flickered with information- the lava was in the range of 1,900f to 2,200f, and had large elements of copper.

    which meant the lava was a glowing, sluggish river of bright green.

    “tripshot, you meet back up with pup, sox, and hotwire at the camp we set up, and share information. let me know what your thoughts are on the danger levels, and tell me if we should organize another outing before we make our choice.” ghost finally dragged his gaze away from the slow-moving green flow at the distant sound of keiplings voice, and watched as his brother hesitated, turning towards him.

    their little general patted tripshot on the hip and launched himself towards the otherwise, propelling himself using the force like jedi often did. once he seemed satisfied that the general was going to see what the issue was, tripshot disappeared into the underbrush.

    “ghost?”

     the general’s voice was quiet- concerned. he couldn’t feel it through the heavy heat-armor this mission required, but ghost could imagine that the general had placed a fuzzy paw on his side, attempting to get his attention. but ghost’s breath was stuck in his throat, and all he could see was the green lava, bubbles popping and plantlife burning from the heat.

    “breathe with me, friend. take a few steps back, and turn away.”

    keiplr had no fear in his voice, and with the light, airy feeling that meant the jedi was using the force to gently pull the clone commander back and away from the split in the earth, ghost offered no resistance. instead he let the jedi take a hand and guide him back into the foliage they had come from, retracing their steps until they could no longer hear the popping of the lava.

    ghost stumbled to his knees almost immediately, yanking off his helmet and gasping in the cooler air like it had been eons since he breathed. he could feel keiplr at his side rummaging around before pressing a damp cloth to his face, and ghost nearly flinched back from how even the lukewarm water was much colder than his face.

    “s-sorry sir. we should go- we’ll be late for the meet-up back at camp.” ghost said, though he made no effort to get back to his feet. keipling offered him the canteen, and ghost chugged the remainder of it as the general replied, “don’t be sorry- i sent tripshot back with our information, and they can fill us in when we return. i should be the one apologizing.”

    ghost gave the small jedi a confused look, and eased off his knees and into a siting position as keiplr did.

    “it’s been a while since i was in this particular area- i forgot how copper-rich it is, and what it would do to the lava. i should have sent you with sox, pup and hotwire instead.” keiplr apologized, and ghost nodded.

    “i think.. i think we should head back. but if it’s alright with you, keipling, i’d like to rest. i’ll catch up on the mission in the morning.” ghost slowly got to his feet, keipling following.

    “that sounds like a good idea to me- please tell myself or hotwire if you need anything.” keipling agreed, “i already sent a message to our boys- here they come in fact.” ghost looked up to see a laat rapidly approaching, and stepped aside with keiplr to allow it more room to land. hotwire popped out the side, making his way over quickly to stand at ghost’s side and poking him.

     “alright, sir- i’m pulling my medic bullshit,” hotwire said, raising a hand to silence ghost, “yes, i’m entirely aware that it’s unneeded and that you weren’t arguing. however, if i do this, then i can insist that no one wake you tomorrow, and that you swap places with pup for whatever explorations may follow. now scoot it, commander.”

    ghost shook his head, let hotwire scoop up his helm, and allowed himself to be herded onto the ship. as the laat rose back into the air and headed in the direction of the camp, ghost mentally filed it all under ‘reasons why the 881st lasts’, and let hotwire insist on having him sit in one of the few seats, complete with the buckles.


	3. sleep.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ghost helps his boys sleep. sometimes they return that favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's fucking four am.
> 
> written by taylor

    sleep never came easy to the commander. he was often the last to go to sleep, sitting at a desk with a small light on and doing reports with the general while waiting for the rest of the 881st to fall asleep before finally deciding to join them. it was something about being able to see their faces relaxed and peaceful- occasionally dreaming- that let him finally sink into his own bunk to sleep himself.

    still, he was a light sleeper and any change in how his men slept was sure to wake him up. they all had long since given up on trying to not wake ghost as they used the ’fresher- he would always get them on the way there or back, sleep still heavy in his voice as he asked if everything was going well.

    on occasion, ghost would share his bed. technically, he did have his own room since he was a commander, but he preferred to share the bunks with the rest. some nights pup would try and sneak in bed (he would always try and sneak despite ghost being awake as soon as pup’s feet his the floor) and ghost would pull as much of the youngest clone into himself as he could, blankets covering whatever ghost couldn’t protect himself. pup would always be trembling, afraid of some unspoken thing, and ghost would hum and squeeze his arms until pup fell back into an uneasy rest.

    ghost would sometimes drag hotwire out of the medical bay, the medic’s eyes glazed over and exhaustion pouring off him in waves. the nights were rough, hotwire desperately trying to say something that he couldn’t express. ghost would sit him on an empty bed and put away tools and scanners and walk hotwire to his room. those nights, hotwire couldn’t stand to be near his brothers, see who he could risk losing in the next battle. he would tuck his head under the pillow and roll up in the blankets, and ghost would sit on the floor by the bed and hold hotwire’s shaking hands.

    sox and tripwire usually went to each other when they couldn’t sleep. one would grab all the blankets and pillows off their bunk and move to the others bunk, creating a nest of sorts. they were batchmates, and back when they would train on kamino, they would sometimes share a bed after particularly hard or stressful training sessions. one would aften stay awake to watch over the other as they slept, taking watch shifts even though they were on the halcyon and not in the field.

    on nights when they were both too exhausted to not sleep, ghost would guide them to his room, sox carrying the pillows, tripshot carrying the blankets, and ghost with a hand on their shoulders and steadily moving them forward. his blankets would be added to theirs and he would build the nest around them, tucking in pillows and sheets. ghost would then settle at the foot of the bed and continue writing reports until keipling would find them in the morning, ghost slumped against the wall with a small stack of incomplete datapads at his side, sox and tripshot curled in a nest like baby birds.

    of course, keipling being who he was, he would often take a picture and curl up on the bed as well, sending a message to the ship that if they needed him to simply send him a beep on the commpad.

    on nights when ghost couldn’t sleep, and he would spend hours sitting at a desk, the rest of the 881st took care of him like he took care of them. hotwire would bring him mugs of tea (“no caff- you’re awake enough.”) and swipe a few medical reports away. sox would tuck a blanket around the commander while tripshot would put away whatever armor pieces or weapons were left out. last resort, they would send pup out to do his trademark “i’m sad because you won’t come sleep, please come to bed we love you” puppy-eyes. it was effective on everyone, but ghost found himself especially weak to it.

    those nights, they would all pile into ghost’s private room, all the pillows and blankets lumped onto the bed in the corner. somehow, they would make all of them fit on the bed and hotwire would still end up with his head under a pillow and ghost would find himself on the bottom on the pile. somehow, despite being completely squished, it would be a matter of second before ghost would find himself drifting off, comforted by the presence of his brothers surrounding him.


	4. halcyon.

    “do you know what halcyon means, commander?”

    ghost looked over and down at the general. he looked a mess- fur singed from a fire that had erupt from a droid tank. his paw- the one he usually held a lightsaber- in was bandaged and if hotwire’s quick assessment was true (it often was) it was likely sprained at the very least.

    “i might. give me a refresh regardless?” ghost replied, turning his attention back to the repetitive motion of cleaning his helmet. for being from such a social and community-driven species, keipling had developed a dislike of being looked at  when he was hurting. caused by a jedi upbringing, ghost supposed.

    “halcyon, hal-see-in, an adjective. a period of time in the past that was ideally peaceful and happy.” keiplr recited, and ghost could picture the little general pouring our a dictionary desperate to find a word to name his flagship. ghost nodded, and turned his helmet to begin cleaning the other side once more. he could feel keipling slouch beside him with a sigh.

    “there was a time, ghost, where this wasn’t how it was. jedi weren’t generals- we didn’t lead countless battles that always resulted in deaths no one acknowledged. we were peacekeepers- we didn’t belong to the republic. we helped with problems instead of simply directing supplies. we actually had a personal... connection. we actually gave a shit.”

    keipling rubbed his bandaged hand across his face, wincing afterwords.

    “that wasn’t my best idea. now it hurts more.”

    “if you’d like my opinion sir, i can offer it.” ghost replied, continuing after he felt the nod at his side, “i don’t know a time before all this. i knew endless training simulations, long nights after arguments with each other that we always made up because all we had was each other. the raw fear of going out on a first mission, and the empty pit that only grew with each brother i lost.”

    ghost’s hand stilled, and he put the helmet to the side, getting to his feet. he moved across the room, opening a desk drawer and removing a packet of fresh bandage-wraps and returned to sit on the bed, facing the general.

    “may i?” ghost asked, and keipling offered up the bandaged hand. carefully, ghost unwrapped the bandage that hotwire had quickly wrapped back on the field, re-wrapping it with the cloth bandage.

    “but if you were to ask me what i think of the situation now?” the commander spoke again, placing a small bacta-patch on the generals’ arm where fur had burned away and the skin was red and painful, “i would look at my brothers. i would see how they tease pup for following so closely behind you and giving him his name for it. see tripshot and sox poke fun at each other. tabbi who likes to set up painting parties to make sure we all look pretty.”

    ghost put away the plastic wrap, and ran his hand through the thicker fur on keipling’s head, feeling him relax a little at the familiar touch.

    “i think about all the candy and sweets you buy and share, how our troop is always one of the most asked for when the cadets get to tour the ships, how you disobey the council to make sure no one gets left behind.” ghost picked up his helmet again, resuming cleaning from the start.

    “and i think about how in the future, these will be the halcyon times. someday, the jedi will be peacekeepers and not generals once more, and i hope that those days we’ll still be standing by your side.”

    keipling rubbed his eyes, using his un-injured hand this time, his voice thick with emotion.

    “you’re a good guy, ghost. i’d rather not have anyone else at my side.”

    “you’re a shit jedi, sir. i wouldn’t have it any other way.” ghost replied, a rare smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> suck that ghost's gonna kill keip when that order 66 hits huh? maybe i'll write that next.
> 
> written by taylor


	5. transfer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the family gains a few more.

    “commander ghost, sir? may i have a word with you?”

    the commander of the 881st turned away from the datascreens on the ships bridge, giving his attention to the trooper. they shuffled from foot to foot, uncertainty in their expression.

    “you’re part of the 474th, aren’t you?” ghost replied, noting the bright yellow highlighting the armor, “would your question not be better directed to your own in charge?” the trooper shook their head, and ghost studied their face for a moment. their attention kept flicking from ghost to something behind him- a look over his shoulder showed nothing out of the ordinary apart from a tense looking pilot reviewing future flight plans.

    “very well. in private, i suppose?”ghost powered down the screens, gesturing for the other clone to follow him. the walk was quiet, ghost staying silent and instead observing the body language of the474th troop walking beside him. though the uncertainty from before had mostly disappeared, ghost could feel it simmering under a more relaxed exterior.

    “your name, son?” ghost gestured them into the room he and the general were sharing, sitting by the small table and pulling the second closer.

    “sunbeam, sir.”

    “i see,” ghost replied, “what can i do for you, sunbeam? it must be important, given that you’re directing it towards me and not your own command.”

    sunbeam hesitated, took a deep breath, and blurted it out all in one. “ineedtoaskfortranserformyselfandabatchmatetoyoursquadsir.”

    ghost raised an eyebrow, “care to try again?”

    “i- i need to ask to transfer myself and a fellow trooper- one of my batchmates- to your troop, sir.”

    ghost stood, moving towards the small kitchenette in the room, “explain, please.”

    “yes sir. several weeks ago, my batchmate- his name is tabbi- was involved in a mission. it was a large loss.. tabbi is the only one that really made it out. all the others either died on the field or…” sunbeam trailed off, and ghost turned back to look at them while he poured fresh-brewed tea into a pair of mugs. they had a far off look in their eyes, and when ghost handed them a mug, they clutched it desperately.

    “the attack was an ambush. they were only supposed to be doing recon, and so when the seperatist ships attack they were caught off guard. tabbi tried to pilot his laat out, but one of the tanks hit their engines. they crashed, and by the time we had arrived, tabbi was the only survivor.”

    ghost sipped at his tea, not overly fond of it. he took a few moments to reply, voice gentler than it usually was, “is tabbi the pilot you kept looking at? the one behind me?”

    sunbeam nodded, and ghost took another few moments to think before replying, “and you want transfer to my squadron? what exactly are you hoping to gain from this?”

    “i- i was hoping that since you already have a pilot that you wouldn’t need him to fly anything. and general keipling has a reputation for being more… understanding of limits than some.” sunbeam rubbed their neck, holding the mug in one hand and taking a sip before continuing, “i understand if you can’t take me as well, but at least take tabbi. he can’t fly anymore- he keeps waking up thinking he’s in the pilots seat, watching the laat crash and kill our brothers over and over again.”

    “i’ll talk to the general and see what we can do, sunbeam. in the meantime, head back to the bridge- tabbi seemed tense while looking at those flight plans.” sunbeam stood and tried to hand the half-full mug to ghost, but he waved it away. “keep it, return it when you’ve finished it. in fact, take a mug to tabbi.” ghost said as he poured a third mug and handed it to sunbeam as he guided the clone out of the room.

    as the doors slid shut, ghost raised keipling on his wristcomm.

    “general, i’d like to speak with you a moment. i’m in the room we’re sharing while on general devic’s flagship.”  
    

    “i see. so sunbeam is concerned for their batchmate, and would like for us to take tabbi at the very least?”

    “yes sir. them and sunbeam are batchmates- the only reason sunbeam wasn’t on that mission is because he was bedbound with a wound. while they would like to stay with tabbi, their first concern is finding a good place for tabbi.”

    keiplr hmm’d, picking up a datapad and flicking through it, “well, the council has been asking me to add more to my squadron. i’m certain that if i was to request the two of them, they’d approve it to at least ensure they don’t have to keep hounding me about it. has sunbeam brought this up with their command? ghost shook his head, and keiplr hmm’d once more, tossing the datapad onto the table.

    “in that case, i’ll bring it up with devic at meditation tomorrow, if you’ll bring it up with nimm?”

    “sounds like a plan to me, sir.”

    keipling patted ghost’s hand before hopping off the table, “it’s about lights out anyway- will you be sleeping here, or in the bunks with the boys again?” ghost got to his feet, placing the helmet he had been cleaning once more on the table before making his way to the door, “with the boys. you snore, sir.”

  
    “thank you for having us aboard your ship during this mission, master devic.” keiplr said as the 881st loaded their supplies onto the transport to take them back to the halcyon.

    “i appreciate your assistance, master keipling.” devic replied, “i believe that i have made my choice regarding your question. commander nimm, please tell tabbi and sunbeam that i need them in the flight bay.”

    “yes sir.” the commander at devic’s side saluted and turned away to send the message, and keipling smiled.

    “i think you may still be too gentle-hearted, alais,” keiplr stiffened slightly, but the smile on his face remained as devic continued, “but i’m sure the council will be pleased to at least know you have more in your squad.”

    “you wanted to see us, sir?" sunbeam spoke, looking between their general and the 881st’s general. tabbi stood behind them, avoiding looking near the ships.

    “i did. general keipling has asked for your both to join his squad- the information is already filed away and since he is leaving currently, there is no reason to wait.”

    “do you not have anything to collect before we go?” keipling asked, smile fading as both tabbi and sunbeam shook their heads. the short general sighed and shook his head, but when he looked at the pair once more the smile had returned to his face. “alright then, go ahead and follow commander ghost onto the ship, i’ll be there shortly.” keipling said, and ghost moved around the two jedi to place a hand on both sunbeam and tabbi’s shoulders.

    “welcome to the 881st, vod. we’ll do introductions back on our ship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sunbeam uses they/them.  
> written by taylor


	6. a few days well spent.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as they drop off supplies and act as transport to and from ryloth, hotwire wanders and find a companion or two.

    “our next mission is on ryloth, sir?”

   “it is indeed! we’re going to drop off more supplies, and our support ships will be offering transport- both off planet and returning.” general keipling replied, gesturing to the holographic ships following behind theirs on the display. beside him, commander ghost nodded, his arms crossed.

    “recently freed from the seperatists, though a good amount of that fight was from their own resistance. unfortunately, we also lost master ima-gun di and captain keeli as we could not get support in soon enough.”

    ghost gently put a hand on the small jedi’s shoulder at the topic, to which keipling simply took in a deep breath and released it slowly as he continued, “we’ll be on the ground for a little while, so tell the boys that they’ll have some free time? i must report to the council and let them know that we are beginning to sort out ships for supplies and transport and will be touching down by the end of the day.”

    ghost nodded and gave another pat to keiplings shoulder before turning and heading away to the barracks.

  
    “what do you guys plan on doing when we land?” pup asked, glancing around the laat at this squadmates.  sunbeam was sat besides tabbi, holding his hand tightly in theirs. though the former pilot wasn’t flying directly, the whole process still tended to unsettle him, and a shrug was the only answer he gave pup.

    “i think i’ll get some paint and cleaning supplies together, freshen the details up on my armor with tabbi. that’s what we usually do on leave anyway.” sunbeam offered up, free hand pointing out the flaking paint on their armor, “you’re welcome to join us.”

    “sox owes me a wrestling match, so i’ll make him join me for that,” tripshot said, flexing as pup examined his armor to find that it was also slightly flaking. “you could watch me make him cry all the way back to kamino- i plan on beating him so good that he’s a shiny all over again.”

    “you will behave though, tripshot.” ghost spoke up, and though the commander still wore his helmet they could all imagine the stern look he was directing at tripshot. he put his hands up in surrender, stumbling as the ship rocked, though he managed to grab back onto the support bars before he fell.

    “sorry guys, a bit of uh turbulence.” sox’s voice filtered through the ships internal comms, though he didn’t sound sorry at all. at least not until hotwire muttered something fiercely into a private comm before sitting next to tabbi. the former pilot had taken his helmet off, and was looking a little green.

    “sorry tabbi,” sox’s voice came again, sounding actually sorry, “we’re about to set down, so we’re almost done.” tabbi gave a weak thumbs up in response, though sox couldn’t see it from the pilot seat. the ship shuddered to a landing, and the troop began to move towards the basecamp set up a little ways away.

    “what are you guys doing?” pup asked, catching up to the other three that hadn’t given a reply. ghost pulled his helmet off and held it up in one hand with his blaster in the other. “cleaning these while the general does his meditation.” beside him, keiplr shook his head in amusement, and ghost pulled the helmet back on.

    “clean your helmet and blaster?” pup asked, somewhat confused, “i cleaned mine with you just last night after we packed away the supplies, sir.” ghost nodded, and keiplr moved around so that pup was inbetween himself and ghost, adding, “i’m pretty sure ghost has the cleanest helmet and blaster in the entire republic, pup. it’s soothing for him.” pup nodded, though he still looked confused.

    “what about you, hot’ika? you’re the only one who hasn’t shared your plans, i think.” sox spoke up, tossing an arm around the medic as he suddenly appeared. hotwire shrugged, “no plans really. was thinking about just wandering, seeing where fate takes me.”

    “cool!”

    “sox is lying, that sounds way boring.”

    hotwire snorted as sox moved away from him to punch tripshot, who bolted away. ghost just shook his head at the two racing ahead, and keipling laughed.  
 

    “alright boys, just make sure we meet up for dinner. you’re not getting rid of us just yet.” keipling said as they exited the tents the next morning, shooing them away. sox and tripshot had already begun to pester each other about their wrestling match, throwing verbal jabs. a laughing twi’lek had apparently agreed to be the referee as he had joined them in wandering off.

    pup had joined sunbeam and tabbi in refreshing the paint, and after a good sleep tabbi certainly looked much better than he had on the way down. the three settled down in a space out of the way, a bucket of warm suds at each other sides and an unopened case of maroon paint in the middle. keipling and ghost had returned inside their tent, though the door-flaps were left wide open, and one could easily see the jedi sitting feet crossed and eyes closed in meditation. beside him, ghost began steadily rubbing at his helmet with a soapy cloth similar to how sunbeam and their trio were.

    that left hotwire to do his wandering. he had chosen to leave his armor with pup who had promised to clean and re-paint it, and rather than wander in his blacks, he had warm the more casual clothes that keipling insisted they all have. a simple gray shirt with slacks, though he kept his uniform boots. the basecamp was populated by twi’lek and troopers alike- either organizing to leave the planet or returning. some were families, and hotwire smiled to see them eagerly telling them about where they were going or relieved to see that in all the action previous that their family was still around.

    he continued on his way, hands in his pockets and looking upwards at the sky. occasionally transports crossed the sky, one returning to ryloth and one leaving to one of the side ships that had accompanied the halcyon. at the edge of his vision, he caught the faint trail of smoke, and hotwire could just barely smell it. hoping no one was in danger, the clone medic stopped wandering and started in a specific direction.

    it was a good half-hour walk before he came across the source- a downed speeder with two beside it. one- a twi’lek- seemed to be repairing it, though when he tried to start it again and it chugged to a stop once more, he smacked the side with a tool in frustration. the second took a few more seconds to recognize, a sludir if hotwire was seeing them right. he gently bopped the twi’lek on the head with a staff of some type.

    “hey there!” hotwire called out, not wanting to startle the pair, going from a walk to a faster jog, “need any help?” the twi’lek seemed to shy away, using both the damaged speeder and his sludir friend to block himself from sight, and hotwire slowed down to a stop several paces away.

    “i’m friendly, i promise! i’m a medic- hotwire’s my name.”

    “well met, hotwire,” the sludir replied, his voice gravelly and rough, “i am jyzatch, and this young one here is jer’passik.” the twi’lek waved a bit haltingly though he made no movement out of his apparent safe zone. “we appreciate your offer, though we need no medical help.”

    “maybe i can help still- my name’s not hotwire for my medic skills.” hotwire joked, “i’ve fixed a fair bit of ships, and i tinker a bit in my spare time.” that seemed to draw jer’passik out a little more, the purple-ish twi’lek interested, “you do mechanic work as well? i do, but i like the bigger ships more than small ones like this speeder.”

    hotwire moved around, crouching at the side where jer had been, joined after a few moments by jer. “see, there’s not really anything to fix- it was a driod speeder and it was hit up in a battle.” jer said, sounding a bit uncomfortable with the topic.

    “yeah- it’s pretty scrapped up in there. all the wires and junk melted up.” hotwire agreed, a bit disappointed. “i don’t think i can really help, i don’t have any spare bits on me. i can at least walk you back to the basecamp?” “we were headed there, indeed.” the sludir spoke up again, and both jer and hotwire stood back up, hotwire gesturing in the direction of the camp. “it’s just in that way, about a half-hour walk.”  
  
    the trek was filled with chatter, mostly conversation between hotwire and jer with the occasional comment from jyzatch. hotwire had mentioned early on how he was a trooper of the 881st to which jer had somewhat stiffened at. he seemed more nervous after that, but when hotwire easily returned the conversation back to ships and jyzatch had bonked him on the head, though very gently and jer barely felt it.

    “plus, your bandana is pretty cool- i’ve seen designs like it on some other brothers helmets, though none of my squad have anything like it.” hotwire said as they made their way through the camp, bringing it up as jer pulled it down for a quick drink.

    “yeah, it’s good for the dust and pretty good to hide behind sometimes.” jer replied as he pulled it back up. hotwire went to reply, though whatever he had said was drowned out by the loud shout to their side.

    “hey, hotwire! food’s up!”

    “got it, tabbi!”

    jer seemed a bit spooked, but hotwire smiled reassuringly, “that’s just one of my brothers- tabbi! they’re all good, sox and tripshot can be rowdy but they’ll settle. will you come eat with us? we managed to get some actual food, not just nutrient blocks or tubes.” jer’s stomach rumbled in reply, and the pair followed hotwire over to where several others waited.

    “jer, jyzatch, these are my brothers and my general. tabbi, sunbeam, tripshot sox, pup, ghost, keipling.” as hotwire introduced them, they each raised a hand to give a wave. at the sight of the jedi, jyzatch seemed a bit displeased, but his politeness remained and he greeted them in turn.

    hotwire took a moment to fill a pair of bowls, handing one to jer and one to jyzatch before filling his own, sitting between the twi’lek and tabbi.

    “we’ll be here a few days more, and i’d like you all to give your armor a good clean and repaint before we leave.” ghost spoke up, breaking the silence that had settled as they ate. “leave your dishes here, keiplr and i will do them.” the small jedi nodded in agreement. “i can take your bowls if you’ve finished.” tabbi offered as he got up, taking hotwire’s and then jer and jyzatch’s as they finished as well. he moved to place them in an empty tub, “i’m going to turn in. night boys.”

    “i suppose we better get cleaning, ghost,” keiplr said as he hopped off his seat, ghost standing seconds after, lifting the tub up to get water in it. after a few more moments, only hotwire, jer, and jyzatch remained.

    “there are some empty tents around if you’d like.” hotwire offered, rubbing an eye somewhat tiredly, “i can show you them. if you’d like, maybe tomorrow we can continue talking? i’d love to tell you more about the halcyon- it’s our flagship.” “sounds fine to me, child.” the sludir replied, and hotwire offered them both a hand up before leading them to a tent. “i’ll see you in the morning then?” jer nodded, and hotwire made his way back to the tent he shared with pup.  
  
    the next few days passed in ease, hotwire spending a fair amount of time with his newfound companions. alongside that, he also tried finding open space on transport shits to find somewhere they could go, but by the time the last day rolled around, all ships remained full.

    hotwire sat next to jer, a hologram of a diseccted laat floating between them. hotwire had already broken the news about being unable to find transport, and they had come to the unhappy conclusion that they would likely have to wait for another availability.

    hotwire couldn’t help but feel bothered by it- he had half a mind to ask ghost or the general if they thoughtnthey could squeeze the pair anywhere. it seemed however, that they were one step ahead of the medic in that case.

    “hotwire, my friend!” keipling’s cheery voice was a harsh contrast to the mood between the medic and the mechanic, the little jedi standing with his long tail waving. “good evening to you as well, jer’passik and jyzatch! any luck with the ship hunt?”

    hotwire shook his head, but keipling didn’t seem to falter in his cheery mood, “well, no fear! jer, i hear you’re a mechanic, yes? that you would like to work on larger ships?”

    “uh- yes, i’d like to at some point.” jer replied, sounding uncertain.

    “excellent! would you and your friend mind joining aboard my ship? you don’t have to work on it if you’d rather- i’d like to at least offer your transport. if you’d like to stay, that is also very welcome!” jer sat up straight alongside hotwire. both seemed surprised, and keipling grinned wide at them, jer sounding eager as he replied, “are you really offering that? i-i mean i’d love to- a flagship is massive! but..”

    jer deflated, “you’d often go into battle- that type of thing isn’t my thing. i hate it, it freaks me out.”

    keipling nodded in understanding, “well, i can offer you a place upon one of my non-combat ships instead and i will do my best to ensure neither you or jyzatch are ever in harms way. is this plan alright with you as well? i am open to any suggestion.” the sludir nodded after a moment, and keipling clapped his paws together.

    “in that case, we’ll be boarding tomorrow morning! welcome aboard, friends.” keipling waved his goodbyes, and hotwire grinned at jer, the mechanic looking eager to see the ship himself.

    “looks like we might get to chat more! the halcyon is a good ship, you’ll like it there while we move to find a non-combat ship.”

    jer flicked up an image of a republic ship, gesturing at it eagerly, “i can’t wait to see all that up close and personal!” “better get to bed then, young one.” jyzatch bonked him gently with his walking stick. as both hotwire and jer stood and waved their goodbyes for the night, hotwire couldn’t help the grin on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jer'passik and jyzatch belong to my friend henna aelou. also this one chapter has nearly half of all the other chapters combined in it.  
> written by taylor


	7. Help works both ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tabbi gives Hotwire a hand in the medbay and Hotwire returns the favor

    “Hey Hotwire- you busy right now?” Tabbi’s voice drifted in fron the front of the medical bay. The room seemed to be empty and as he started to turn to leave and look elsewhere, the door to the medical closet slid open and Hotwire poked his head out.

    “Oh! Tabbi, I thought I heard someone calling for me. What’s the matter?” Hotwire greeted his brother, stepping out of the closet with an arm full of various packets of supplies. He tossed them on a free bed before turning to give Tabbi his full attention.

    “Nothing really,” Tabbi replied, knowing full well that Hotwire wouldn’t believe it but also knowing that it was an answer Hotwire wouldn’t press on, “What are you doing with all this?”

    “Hm.” Hotwire hummed, confirming that while he knew something was up, he was going to let Tabbi bring to up at his desire, “Refilling first-aid kits, filling out supply requests, changing the bed sheets. Want to give me a hand?”

    Tabbi shrugged and the medic apparently took it as a yess as he waved for Tabbi to come over to the supply-covered bed. “Take one of these kits- I emptied them all to put fresh supply in. Just place the item where it says to in the kit and then seal it back up and grab another.”

    “Sounds mind-numbing enough.” Tabbi replied, sitting cross-legged on the bed and beginning to place supplies in. Bandages, bacta patches, hyposprays, stims, other various items that he didn’t exactly recognize by sight but knew by name. They had each filled a few by the time Hotwire next spoke.

    “Still having trouble sleeping?”

    Apparently Hotwire did intend on pressing a little bit. Tabbi rubbed the back of his neck with a free hand, sealing the kit and placing it down on the others silently. “No more than any of us do. Nothing I can’t manage, and it’s nothing that Ghost doesn’t pretend he’s not fussing over.”

    Hotwire smiled at that, “He’s very particular about bedtime and getting sleep, especially for someone who doesn’t really get a lot of sleep.”

    “For someone who can look so intimidating, he’s rather soft.” Tabbi agreed, thinking of earlier when he had woken from a nightmare to find Ghost sitting at his side, a hint of worry on his face. As soon as he had noticed the former pilot was awake, he was offering a thermos of caff and to sit and make sure that Tabbi had no more nightmares if he wanted to catch up on more sleep.

    “He worries about all of us on the inside- even our friends who aren’t techincally on the team.” Hotwire replied, turning back to filling the kits. They finished the task, the quiet broken only by the sound of the first-aid kits sealing shut. “I’ll do the supply requests later since that’s mostly me sitting bored out of my mind while Ghost repeatedly pesters me.” Tabbi laughed as he helped the medic place the re-filled kits away in the closet.

    “Alright, time to change the beds! Still willing to help?” Hotwire hauled an armful of folded sheets out of the closet, Tabbi taking half the pile in his own arms.

    “Long as you’re willing to have me help, medical man.” Tabbi replied as he began to strip down the closest bed and piling the sheets in the middle of the room. The silence returned, again broken only by the sound of their task.

    “I’m glad you are letting me help- sometimes I feel like everyone tiptoes around me. Especially Sox, since he’s the pilot and all.” Tabbi admitted suddenly, tucking a bottom sheet under, not looking over at Hotwire. The medic stilled for a moment, but continued on his task.

    “I mean- there are missions I can’t even go on sometimes because the whole LAAT flight down is just too much. Makes me feel useless- what good am I if I can’t fight with my brothers?” Tabbi stopped where he was, gripping a sheet tightly. He could feel tears welling up, and he hated it.

    “You’re not useless, vod,” Hotwire replied, his voice soft. He abandoned the bed he was working on to move over to where Tabbi was, pulling him down to sit on the half finished bunk, “We all got things we can’t do. Ghost can’t do anything with something that glows green, and eye contact is reserved especially with people he likes or trusts. Sox and Tripshot usually sleep together on a watch system after a mission.”

    Tabbi felt Hotwire wrap his arms around him and squeeze lightly, and Tabbi broke into it. Tears rolled down his cheek and he hiccuped quietly, Hotwire wiping them away and humming as he comforted his brother though it all. Tabbi’s tears slowed to a stop after what felt like hours, leaving him with a headache and tear-stained cheeks.

    “Why don’t we take a break? Settle in one of the clean beds and I’ll brink you a drink.” Hotwire said, his voice in the firm but gentle medic tone that told Tabbi there would be no arguments. He shuffled over to a bed, taking the water cup and drinking it in one go before hesitating.

    “I’m afraid I’ll have nightmares, vod,” Tabbi admitted, and Hotwire squeezed his hand comfortingly.

    “I’ll sit with you then,” Hotwire climbed onto the bed, his back against the wall and a pillow in his lap, “Put your head here- I won’t let anything happen to you.” Tabbi took a few moments to get comfortable, letting the medic pull a blanket over him.

    “Don’t tell Sunbeam I cried like that? They get all protective- it can be a bit overbearing,” Tabbi mumbled, his exhaustion washing over him. Hotwire ran his hand through Tabbi’s blond hair, and his agreement was all Tabbi heard before sleep finally claimed him.

    When he woke the next morning, Hotwire fast asleep with his in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position, all Tabbi could think about was how his sleep had been blissfully dream free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every member of the 881st at their brothers: i must protect them  
> written by alex


	8. worries and solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's quiet, and Pup has something to talk about.

    Time in between missions was rare- every little bit of free time that any clone could snag was usually treasured. It didn’t change the fact that their wholes lives revolved around this war and sometimes the moments of silence and peace would make their skin crawl. Somehow, the silence would roar and press up against them, static filling the space usually occupied by battlefire and orders shouted over communications. It was overwhelming and breaking to even the most experiences troopers, and each had their own ways of coping.

    Sunbeam sat on their bunk, a washcloth and soapy tub on one side and a small container of paint on their other. The barracks were empty apart from them, the others all spending their free time doing other things, and while Sunbeam appreciated the time alone, it also left them unable to really settle.

    By the time Sunbeam had finished washing down their armour and drying it off, they became aware of a lingering presence just outside the doors. Looking up, they made eye contact with a somewhat nervous looking Pup.

    “I don’t bite, Pup. You can come in.” Sunbeam spoke up, trying to make their tone sound light and friendly. It seemed to work because Pup eased some as he inched in. He still seemed a bit stiff, and Sunbeam frowned.

    “Did you see Hotwire, Pup? That leg looks like it’s still bothering you.”

    “Just got back, actually. He wrapped the ankle and knee up real tight and told me to rest up- said he’d see me before lights up to see about unwrapping it while i slept or something,” Pup replied as he stood next to his bunk, holding up a pair of chillpacks, “Gave me these to put on em, but I don’t really want to just sit. It’s..” Pup seemed to fumble with his words for a moment, trailing off with a shrug.

    “It’s too quiet?” Sunbeam finished, “Yeah, I get what you mean. But out there with all the others it’s too much. A lose-lose situation.” Pup nodded in agreement, still standing. He seemed like he had something to ask, but couldn’t speak up for it.    

    “Did you want to sit with me?” Sunbeam asked after a few more moments of Pup standing, looking uncomfortable.

    “Can I?” Pup asked as Sunbeam moved their supplies around and then patted next to them. Instead of sitting, Pup moved across the room to grab a stool, pulling it back and then sitting with his hurt leg propped up on the stool. As he carefully placed the packs on his ankle and knee, Sunbeam returned to examining their armour, deciding to start with the chest piece.

    “Do you want me to talk to you while I paint?” Sunbeam asked, though they kept their eyes on the task. Picking up the smaller brush, they dipped it in paint and began retracing the circles and lines.

    “Can.. Can I talk instead? I think my head kinda needs to word-vomit.” Pup replied, and Sunbeam shrugged. After a moment, they reached down and handed the younger clone a boot and a brush, placing the paint container between them.

    “You’re a bit fidgety- this’ll keep your hands busy while so you can talk clearer,” Sunbeam explained, a bit of a smile on their face, “Talk to me, little brother. What’s on your mind?”

    “A lot of things,” Pup admitted, dipping his brush in the pain and starting in on the boot, “I think at least- I don’t really know. I keep having these weird dreams, and they’re keeping me from sleeping. I think Ghost’s starting to get worried since I’m pretty sure I’ve slept in his bunk with him more than I’ve slept in my own this week.”

    Pup sounded a bit embarrassed, but Sunbeam kept painting, and after a few moments Pup started up again.

    “I guess I don’t really know where I.. fit in here, either. Sox has Tripshot, Ghost has the general, you have Tabbi and Tabbi has you and he’s started making friends with Hotwire too. Hotwire even has a friend of sorts outside of us that Jer’passik and Jyzatch? Those two that kinda not really joined us back on Ryloth. Even back on Kamino, my batchmates were all rowdier and more certain than me. The trainer called me forgettable.”

    Sunbeam’s hand stilled at that. Everything Pup had said made Sunbeam want to reassure him, but the way his voice had gone soft and said when mentioning what the trainers on Kamino had said about him filled them with anger.

    “Pup’ika,” Sunbeam started, placing the half-painted chestpiece down and moving the paint away, “You are not forgettable. We love you so much- do you know how many times I’ve heard the general fondly talking about how you follow behind him and Ghost? I’ve only been in this squad a little more than you, but I’m pretty sure Ghost has only ever actually smiled at you.” Pup had stopped painting as well, placing the boot down as Sunbeam spoke. They put an arm around him and pulled him close, resting their head against his.

    “When you got hit back there,” Sunbeam said, gesturing to the leg Pup had propped up, “Sox and Tripshot moved so fast to cover you and get you to Hotwire that I’m pretty sure there had to be some Force-nonsense involved. Tabbi keeps inviting you to paint with me and him because he likes to be around you- he worries you get lonely, for good reason it seems.”

    Sunbeam picked the brush out of Pup’s hands, dropping it in the pain can with their own brush, “If you ever need anything, we’re all here to support you- I think we’ve just wanted to give you some room to come into yourself. You got your name only a little while ago, we didn’t want to overwhelm you. It can be hard being shiny- Kamino’s all regimented and everything is scheduled down to the last seconds before lights out. There’s a more freedom and personality in a squad.”

    Pup nodded slowly, leaning more into Sunbeam’s embrace, “I guess that makes sense. I’m just afraid that if I don’t become something that I’ll be forgettable again. Outside of my armour, I look just like any other clone fresh from Kamino- you all have more unique looks. Dyed hairs, different styles, Sox and Tripshot even have matching tattoos.”

    “Tell you what- we’ve got a stop at an outpost later tomorrow. You come find me, I’ve got an idea of something to start you off on finding your own looks.” Sunbeam smiled at Pup, squeezing his shoulder. Pup returned the smile, albiet a bit uncertainly.

    “Now, back to painting?”

  
    “Hey, you guys ever coming for food?” Sox complained into Ghost’s wristcomm, holding it hostage while Ghost continued eating with his other hand, unbothered.

    “Give us a moment!” Sunbeam replied, “Okay, we’re at the door.” The messhall doors slide open, and Sunbeam strolled in, “Clones, generals, mousedroids, I bring your attention to your babiest brother, Pup!” They stepped aside, revealing Pup behind them.

    “You dyed your hair!” Hotwire said, sounding delighted.

    “A nice clean close-shave too.” Ghost observed, a hint of a smile on his face.

    “It looks good then?” Pup replied, sounding a bit nervous. He and Sunbeam sat at the table where the others had already made up a tray for them both. Tripshot nodded, reaching over to rub his hands over it, “Feels good and fuzzy! It fits you, vod.”

    Pup beamed, and Tabbi gave a knowing look to Sunbeam. They smiled back, running a hand through their own curly blond hair, before nudging Pup, “We also added a bit of paint to your armour, didn’t we? Plus what Sox drew on your helmet, and you’re not so shiny, huh? All you need is time to come into yourself, vod.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, laying on the couch with my hurt ankle n fucky knee: im writing now  
> taylor, a known asshole: are you projecting your pain and fears  
> me:  
> me: hey have you considered not calling me out in my own hellbrain
> 
> also im desperately trying to not over use the vod'ika /--'ika too much but i love it. someone be my older sibling and call me that shit. taylor do NOT interact
> 
> written by alex


	9. Knighthood doubts

    “Master Devic? May I speak with you?”

    “You may. Sit, padawan, speak the doubts that plague your mind.” The Zabrak gestured at the grass beside him. Careful to not sit on his tail, Keipling settled beside his master, paws folded in his lap. He was silent for a few moments, gathering his words. Hoping that the serenity of the gardens would steady his words, the oselite began.

    “My apologies for disturbing your meditation, Master, but I had some concerns. I was told by the council that I will be having my knighting ceremony tomorrow.”

    “That is correct, padawan.” Devic confirmed, thought for a moment Keipling thought he could see displeasure on his face, “You did pass your trials, after all. I do not see why this would surprise your or bring concern.”

    “I thought you felt me unready to become a knight, Master.”

    “I cannot say I find the softness in your heart to be free of attachment, or that I don’t find your particulars with your names to be on the foolish side,” Devic replied, “But the Council feels that you are ready, and I will not disagree with their judgement.”

    Keipling stiffened a bit at the Jedi’s words, and he made a point to focus his gaze on one of the many garden fountains. Upon the discovery that somehow the files on Keipling had been listed both Keipling and Keiplr, the jedi master had urged him to choose one or the other, claiming disorder and confusion to be his fate when the oselite had found humor in it and chosen both.

    Add that companionship and close relations were practically genetic to oselites, and Keiplr’s enjoyment of close contact, and the result was many an argument late at night.

    “Regardless, I suggest you prepare for your ceremony tomorrow, padawan Alais. Perhaps then you shall settle and find your choice.”

    Keiplr’s ears tucked back, and the fur on his neck stood up, but his tone was even in response, “Thank you, master. I will see you tomorrow.”  
  


    Keipling sat at the window, staring at the lights of Coruscant  that lit up the planetwide city at night. Even from the temple, he could see the glowing neon of signs and bright advertisements to try and entice the people who sped by in ther vehicles to buy product after product.

    Though his ceremony was merely hours away, he found he could not settle enough to sleep. Instead, argument after argument with his master played though his head. None had ever ended with a solution, and often they were the same thing worded differently. Part of him mourned the fact that he would no longer be Master Devic’s padawan, while another argued that he had never truly been- they had never had the genuine care for one another that most padawan-master pairs did. They barely had a bond.

    “I may be softhearted and not the neat and orderly jedi you wanted me to become, but I am a jedi that I can be proud of. That is all I can become.” Keipling said softly, now staring up at the stars. They twinkled back cold and unfeeling, and Keipling shivered.

  
    The room was dark, lit by the glow of lightsabers arranged in a circle around the knight-to be. Though all but the Grandmaster wore hooded robes, Keipling knew one of the jedi had to be his master. He pressed down the startling realization that though he knew that, he couldn’t feel which jedi was his former master- the bond was barely there. He had no time to dwell on the new fact, as in front of him was Yoda, Jedi Grandmaster.

    The only noise on the room was the quiet padding of paws against the floor as Keiplr stepped forward and knelt in front of Yoda. The short green lightsaber hummed against his ears as Yoda moved it from one shoulder to another as he spoke.

    “By the right of the Council, by the Will of the Force.”

    It was strange to hear Yoda speak so smoothly and not in his trademark backwards riddle-ish voice.

    “I dub thee Jedi, Knight of the Republic.”

    With a hum, the blade cut away the padawan braid, neatly falling into Keiplr’s waiting paws. Lightsaber in one, braid in the other, Keipling bowed and left without another word.  
  


    That night, Keipling sat awake in his quarters. He had hoped that with his ceremony complete, he would feel more assured. Instead, he found the future uncertain, though he felt a glimmer of confidence in the future. Somewhere in the time to come was a place where he would thrive despite his attachements and disorderly name. The Force hummed to him, and he felt the worry and doubt drift away.   
  
    It would simply take time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we broke 10,000 words!!! thats like! the most i've ever willingly wrote!! ofc a good amt of those r taylors but!! STILL!!!  
> written by alex!!


	10. Sox-Skating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written by alex

    “What are you guys doing?” Pup looked on from one end of the hallway, curious as to why Sox and Tripshot seemed to be willingly cleaning and waxing the floor. Hotwire waved from the other end of the hallway, while Tabbi and Sunbeam sat in an open door on the side.

    “Getting the stage ready for Sox’s performance! There’s another open door over here- grab a pillow to sit on and I’ll get you over.” Tripshot replied, carefully stepping along the floor. Pup grabbed a pink cushion, though he nearly dropped it as Tripshot picked him up with ease, carefully setting him at the free door. “The floor’s really, really slippery. Tripled up on the wax- makes for better sliding,” Tripshot explained, before returning to where Pup had been standing.

    “All you motherfuckers, a moment of your time. I bring to you the finest entertainment tonight. With both our dear commander and general out, the only one who has any form of self-preservation here is Sunbeam and Hotwire. Considering they’re both sitting here, I want you all to know that we have no hope at all.”

    Hotwire raised a hand to flip Tripshot off, Sunbeam laughing at the commentary as Tripshot continued. He waved the mug he was using as a fake mic in the direction of Sox, who bowed dramatically.

    “May I present to you, Sox! The finest hallway-sock skater this side of everywhere! Do you have anything to say, Mr. Sox?”

    Sox cupped his hands around his mouth like a makeshift megaphone, “Skate fast, eat grass, and please don’t tell the team dad I did this again.” Tripshot carefully stepped over to the door where Pup sat, dropping down beside him.

    “Enjoy the show, motherfuckers!” Tripshot called out as Sox removed his boots to stand in his sock-feet. He took a few steps back and ran forward, holding his arms out for balance.

    Pup gasped, certain that any second now the pilot was going to smash his poor face into the ground, but Sox seemed to skate with ease. He slid down the hallway, and as he passed the first doorway he turned into a spin.

    Tabbi let out a hoot, “Those ice-skating vids have been helping, huh!” and clapped. Finishing the spin, Sox dramatically blew a kiss to his brother, and picked up some speed. Once certain he had a fair bit of speed and balance, he lifted one leg and leaned forward, sliding for a few moments on just one leg.

    Pup clapped and Hotwire threw up his hands, letting out a “Fuck yeah!” As Sox neared the end of the hallway, he crouched, moving from his feet to sliding on his knees. It looked as though he was falling but purposefully, and when Sox came to a stop against the pillows they had piled at the end, he had one leg thrown in the air and one arm supporting his head.

    Beside him, Tripshot jumped up shouting, and though Pup still wasn’t sure he had any idea what was going on, he joined his vod in cheering for Sox. Hotwire helped Sox up, and Tabbi and Sunbeam stood as well.

    “Careful down the hall! Sox managed to not bust his face open this time, but that doesn’t mean one of you guys has to!” Hotwire called out as they carefully made their way down the hall.

    “So, Pup’ika, what’d you think of my performance? Absolutely inspiring wouldn’t you say?” Sox asked, grinning.

    “It was great! But uh, the hallway is still really slippy- what are we going to do about that?” Pup asked, and Hotwire patted him on the shoulder.

    “No worries! We just release the mousedroids! Go little guys, go!” Hotwire answered, opening the closed door beside him. Three little mousedroids skittered out into the hall, slipping and bumping into each other on the overwaxed floor.

    “It takes them a bit, but by the time the commander and the general get back, it’ll be like nothing ever happened.” Sox said proudly, “My sock-skating is a 881st tradition!”

    “More like smashing your face on the floor is an 881st tradition.”

    “Gh-Commander!” Sox squeaked, though none of them had heard him approach from a connecting hallway. He stood, examining the scene before him, before patting Sox on the back.

    “You should try some flips, So’ika.” He added as he turned around and headed back down the hall, “Get some sleep tonight, we head out again tomorrow after the re-supply is done.” “Goodnight sir!” Tabbi and Pup called after him while Sox looked thoughtful and Hotwire looked horrified, “A flip huh? I bet I could do a few of those!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> legally sox HAS to end in the 'draw me like one of ur french girls" pose. also fuck you the hallway is super long  
> i wanted to write something just fun for once. no hurt, just good times (idk how the FUCK skating works but this is how me n my brother used to sock skate so)


	11. a thousand memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sox and tripshot don't just draw on their teams armor. they have an actual sketchbook too, one with pictures of all their brothers. living and not.

    “are those what you’re going to paint on our ships?” sunbeam asked, peering over sox’s shoulder at the open sketchbook. sketches of the laat ships covered one page, some overlapping in order to fit as many as possible. the other page was neater, with figures spread across it.

    “yeah, me and tripshot have been bouncing ideas around. a few of these are joke ones, a few aren’t. maybe we’ll eventually get around to actually painting one,” sox replied, pointing a few out. keiplr sitting in an oversized helmet like an overpleased loth-cat, an overly cartoony doodle of pup with the text ‘this clone is baby and there’s nothing you can do about it!’ messily written below.

    “what are you guys doing?” tabbi asked curiously, standing in the doorway. tripshot was stood behind him, though he squeezed past once he saw sox at the small desk with a pencil in his hand. he leaned against the side of the desk, plucking the pencil out of sox’s hand and spinning it.

    “showing off our artwork! you guys all know what we paint on your armor when you don’t look, but we also do real actual drawings sometimes.” tripshot sounded proud of it, and sox grinned, “though trip mostly likes to draw dicks on everything.”

    tripshot shrugged, not denying it at all, though neither sunbeam or tabbi would have believed him if he did deny it. “you guys want a look? we’ll build a fort if you guys grab pup and hotwire- ghost told us he and the general were too busy to do anything but reports today.” “sounds good to me!” sunbeam said as they headed out the door with tabbi.

  
  
    “so they actually do real drawings?” pup asked as they headed down the hall, and hotwire nodded. “a lot, actually. they spend most of our leave either catching up on sketches or fighting each other. keipling got them the sketchbooks and art supplies after they kept sending each other to me because they’d bust a nose or something while sparring. said it’d be a good settling activity for them.”

    “i think that makes sense? i mean they draw all over our armor so that part connects.” pup said thoughtfully, “didn’t they draw that little ghost on ghost’s helmet?” “yeah, and he painted over it because he’s a softie.” hotwire replied as they approached the bunkroom.

    the bunks had been stripped to make a big pile of blankets and pillows in a corner, the desk pulled over to  let the desklamp shine down on the fort. the rest of the lights were turned off, and frankly, it just looked comfortable. “come and get comfortable, dearest motherfuckers!” tripshot called from where he and sox were sitting in the fort. they were each on one side, clearly intending to squish the other four in-between them. it took a few moments but in the end, pup and hotwire were in the middle with sunbeam and tabbi on their sides, and sox and tripshot at the ends, all squashed together in order to look at the sketchpad.

    “this one we drew first- me and the general were guarding some evacuees, and there was this little guy who was really scared. so on the flight back, the general let him pet him like a lothcat,” sox said, pointing to the first page. keiplr was being held by a child almost as big as him, teary-eyed with a hand petting the jedi’s head.

    “oh, bet the general hated that,” tabbi snorted, thinking of all the cranky moods that instantly vanished as soon as ghost patted him on the head.

    “i did this one here- the general had been knocked out in a rockfall trap by the doids, so ghost had him over one shoulder and was actually using his lightsaber.” tripshot spoke next, the picture of ghost standing defensively with the short blue lightsaber in one hand and the other making sure the unconsious jedi wasn’t in danger of slipping off, “guess keipling had shown him the basics of lightsaber-y stuff, because he fucking used that thing with no hesitation.”

    “that’s so cool,” pup breathed, looking wide-eyed at the picture. sox reached around sunbeam to poke him in the shoulder and teasingly said, “aww pup, you know ghost would give an autograph!” pup flushed red and covered his face with his hands, making the others laugh.

    they flipped the the sketchbook, sox and tripshot pointing out the ones they had made and telling the stories behind them. sox laughing about a picture of tripshot with his helmet stuck on backwards and an exasperated looking ghost trying to pull it off. tripshot smiling at one of sox in a victorious pose after a battle, armor scuffed and dirty.

    they paused on one page, a group picture. it had far more effort than most of the other pictures, neatly colored and carefully protected by a plastic sleeve. the cheer in sox and tripshot’s eyes faded, and for a moment they both shared the same sad look.

    “are… were these also the 881st?” sunbeam spoke up, voice soft. sox nodded and tripshot replied, “in the middle, there’s ghost of course. me and sox are there on his left, and those other three…”

    “doubleshot’s the one with the two broken targets on his chest, right down the middle,” sox pointed out the one to the direct right of ghost, “he was the one with the most seniority after ghost and keipling, so he usually took charge if they were unavailable.”

    “that’s tide, there with the wave on his helmet. we used to tease him about why he didn’t become a scuba trooper, because i think he was part fish,” tripshot described the next, the clone beside doubleshot, “he got his name because whenever we’d go somewhere the first thing he ever cared about was its oceans and tidepools. if it didn’t have water, he grumped all mission.” sox smiled at the memory, though his face still looked sad.

    tabbi put an arm around tripshot and squeezed his shoulder, and sox let sunbeam pull him closer and leaned into them.

    “you don’t have to talk about them, i know it must hurt,” hotwire glanced between them, but they both waved it off.

    “it’s okay- we want to remember them. we’ll show you the pictures in the back in a moment. this last guy here is simmons- he was our medic before you, hotwire.” sox pointed to the trooper at the end. he had large circles drawn around his helmet where his eyes would be, and on his chest was the medic symbol, though the paint was well worn.

    “we used to joke that he needed glasses because simmons sounded like a guy who worked in a library and wore glasses. he liked showing the cadets around, was always friendly and encouraging. then he’d turn around and lecture ghost four an hour because he didn’t get enough sleep.”

    tripshot turned the page over, “here we started working on a new one. ghost’ll still be in the center, and keipling will be in this one too. me and sox’ll be on the left again with hotwire being the left end, sunbeam, you and tabbi will be on the right and pup’ll be the right end.” a rough sketch already filled the page, and they could already see the picture coming together.

    “did you guys want to see the back pages? we have the memory portraits,” sox offered, and after a moment the middle four all nodded. he flipped book closed, opening it from the end first. the first page was of tide. his head was framed by pictures of seashells and little tidepool creatures, a wave cutting off the image at the shoulders.

    simmons came after, the background being the medic symbol. messy piles of books lined the bottom to cut off the shoulders, and in the empty space left was a sketch of simmons leading a pack of cadets. the last was of doubleshot, a toothy grin on his face. two pistols crossed at the bottom cut of his shoulders like the rest, targets with bulls-eye shots in every one forming the background pattern. the empty space was filled with another sketch, this one of an over-dramatic pose of doubleshot with his two guns.

    closing the sketchbook, sox slid it onto the desk and settled back into the fort. they all sat in silence for a moment, giving sox and tripshot time to breathe and remember. they shifted after a few moments, the two ending up at the center while sunbeam and their brothers pressed against them in comfort.

    the door slid open, and ghost looked on at the pile in the corner, unreadable as always. he made his way across the room without a sound, crouching in front of them.

    “may i join?” ghost’s voice was soft, and sox and tripshot made room for him between them. once settled, he pulled them both close, pressing a kiss to their foreheads, “the general told me that you might need me- some shit about a great sadness in the force.” “was showing the guys our sketchbook,” sox replied. “saw the group picture we made of the old team,” tripshot finished. ghost’s face softened, and he pulled them closer still.

    “they’re just waiting for us somewhere else, vod. we’ll see them again.” ghost said, and the others all pressed closer. for a moment, they could almost feel the presence of more in the room, joining them in the group pile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written by taylor.  
> based off something alex said that made me sad so i had to make him sadder. fucking suberb, you gay little cowboy.


	12. you said play outside, sir.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bored troops in an abandoned park with a dried out pond-pit and a broken cart. what could possibly go wrong?  
> written by taylor

"you guys are all idiots, i can’t believe you got us kicked off the ship ‘cause you were playing chicken-jousting” hotwire complained loudly as he followed behind his squadmates. leave on coruscant was usually spent at 79′s, but after some fight where the coruscant guard had to get involved, it was temporarily shut down to get fixed up. bored with nothing to do, they had caused trouble on the halcyon and ghost had told them if they didn’t get out for some fresh air that he was going to smother them in his sleep.

    so that left them wandering the streets and shops. sunbeam had picked up some more dye for the group, sox and tripshot buying pencils and sharpeners and a can of suspiciously 881st-colored glitter spray. it had occupied them for a few hours, but after they bought some wonderfully gross street food, boredom struck again.

    “think we can head back to the halcyon yet?” sox complained after tripshot punched him a third time, “i’m tired of yellow speeder- tripshot always sees them before me.” hotwire rolled his eyes as tripshot shrugged, pointed out a fourth yellow speeder, and punched sox again.

    “it loosh like there’sha park shomewhere arounshere,” tabbi pointed out on a crumpled map they had picked up, mouth full of a marshmallow bar. pup peered over his shoulder, “looks like it’s down this way,” he pointed towards a street interestion and took the lead, the others following behind.

    “tripshot, if you punch me one more time i’m going to break your fucking dick.”

    “that wouldn’t stop me from punching you, dipshit.”

 

    “well, this is a disappointment. someone give me a marker, i’ll change the sign to this place fucking sucks park.” sox complained, and tabbi mimed strangling the pilot, pup snorting at his side. sox stuck his tongue out, and turned away to cross his arms.

    “sox, you’re so cranky! i’d tell you to take a nap, but you’re actually kind of right, this place looks like a hot mess,” hotwire sighed, looking at the so-called park ahead of them. at one point it probably looked nice, but lack of upkeep had turned it into a mess of dead plants and trash. what had probably been a pond had dried up, leaving a huge pit in the center. still, ghost had said that if they returned before either he or keipling messaged them, he’d have them write reports for the rest of leave.

    “guys, look what i just found,” sunbeam shouted from where they had wandered off, holding a what looked like a grocery cart above their head, “i bet one of us could fit in the cart and one could fit on the bottom, with one pushing.” sox and tripshot looked at each other with wide grins and bolted over. the others followed a bit slower, and hotwire frowned as he lagged behind.

    “no, absolutely not. we are not doing this.”

    “hot’ika, i love you, but we are literally in the process of jamming sox under the cart as you speak. pup is smushed in the cart, and sunbeam is pushing them down the hill.” tripshot patted him on the shoulder with one hand, holding up a cheap snap-camera he had ran and bought while they banged a wheel back into somewhat working condition. tabbi stood at hotwire’s other side, and as sunbeam pushed off and the cart began bouncing downhill, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “farewell, fuckheads!”

    hotwire winced at every clatter and crash the cart made, and just watched as a wheel knocked into a rock that sent the cart flying. pup screamed in the cart, and sox cackled madly as sunbeam joined pup in shrieking. somehow it managed to land, and hotwire internally thanked tripshot’s decision to buy a cheap helmet along with the camera. these weird little shops down the sidestreets really sold a bit of everything.

    still, as the three of them hauled the cart back up, wheezing with laughter, he couldn’t help but admit that it did look a little fun. tripshot snagged the helmet from sox and squeezed under the cart like his batchmate had, tabbi having offered to take the snap-camera. pup had decided to sit a second run out, still giggle-y with the adrenaline from the ride, sunbeam joining him.

    that left sox to drive the cart down, and he realized they were staring at him expectantly. the cart basket itself was empty, and he had to admit, it had been a while since he really did anything stupid.

    “i can’t believe you guys are doing this, you’re all absolutely dumb as a pile of bricks,” hotwire shook his head and he climbed in the basket, gripping the side tightly. “you’re a brick along with us, hot’ika!” sox yelled as he pushed off and down into the pit, and hotwire joined the two in a mix of screaming and laughing as they crashed down.

 

    “so, you rode a broken cart into a rocky, unlevel pit in a trashed park. am i getting that right?” ghost asked, staring at the six of them, all covered in dirt, dust, and bruised. he reached over and plucked a stick out of sunbeam’s hair, who at least had the decency to look a little sheepish.

    “in our defense, you told us to get some fresh air.” hotwire pointed out, rubbing a quickly-growing bruise on his arm. ghost just sighed, and pointed them towards the ‘freshers, shaking his head as they passed by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to anon on tumblr who sent us, " "you're all idiots" hotwire says, as he prepares to do the stupid thing himself "absolute morons. i can't believe you're doing this." " after i posted about how hotwire acts like he's more sensible than his team and then does the exact same stupid shit with them.


	13. temporary teammate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> every thing has to have a pet-type based episode. since pup doesn't count, this will have to do.

    to put it nicely, the mission was rather fucked. another evac mission, they were usually rather straight and to the point. get in, take stock of the people and situation, and create the best way out. however, this particular request for help seemed to be nothing but a separatists trap considering that they had barely set foot into the village before it erupted into blaster-fire. battledroids had burst out of houses, droideka rolling down the main pathway and blasting them from behind their little bubble shields.

    they had immediately gone for cover, keipling deflecting the blaster-fire with his lightsaber until each one was safe behind whatever cover they had found and then joining them. a few well thrown droid-poppers by pup and the droidekas were disabled and then blasted apart by tripshot. with them gone, all that remained were the standard battledroids, easier enemies than the shielded ones.

    ghost had rushed forward, keipling deflecting shots back at the droids. the rest had followed after, and over the course of an hour, they cleared the village. houses had been checked and found to be completely empty, though a house at the very end of the village revealed all the inhabitants. all dead, and the already tense air turned much more somber.

    keiplr had gone to send a message back to the ship waiting just outside the planet’s atmosphere, only to be greeted with static and fuzz- communications blocked out. sunbeam had pointed out the sound of approaching aircraft just in time for a squad of vulture-droids to send blaster-fire raining down upon them, a building shattering to pieces beside them. ghost had time to see a fragment solidly hit the jedi in the face and send him to the ground before a large fragment crashed into his own helm, and the world blacked out.

    that led them to the current situation, ghost leaned heavily on sunbeam while hotwire carried the jedi. tripshot lead the front with pup and sox followed at the back with tabbi at his side. they hadn’t stopped moving since, though night had long since fallen. occasionally, a vulture-droid passed overhead and they ducked under the shade of trees.

    “we need to find a place to settle, tripshot,” hotwire finally spoke up, the medic glancing over at ghost who was leaning more and more on his teammate. ghost shook his head and waved in an ‘all-fine’ gesture with one hand, but tripshot nodded. he turned in a different direction and the ground sloped quickly, leading them into a wide but rather shallow ravine.

    “over here- there’s a cave and it’s pretty dark. i bet it’s pretty deep in,” tripshot waved them forward, shining a headlight in to doublecheck for no other occupants. after he gave them the all clear, the troop moved in and sunbeam carefully set to sit against the wall.

    “i’m grabbing some brush to make a fire,” they said, “i’ll stick close.”

    “still, pup you go with,” ghost spoke up, pup nodding and the pair leaving. sox and tripshot began unpacking the groups’ packs to take inventory, and hotwire carefully put keipling down beside ghost.

    “he alright?” ghost asked quietly as tabbi knelt beside him and helped to pull his helm off.

    “yeah- he woke up a few times but said he was going to try some meditative healing slag. i told him i wasn’t sure if that was wise since he might have some head injury, but fuzzy di’kut decided to do it anyway.”

    ghost nodded, wincing at the movement. deciding the jedi was fine for now, hotwire moved to ghost’s side, kneeling opposite of tabbi.

    “how about you, sir? you got smacked upside the head too- your helm cracked.” hotwire asked and tabbi showed where the debris had hit.

    “it knocked me out for a few moments, you know that. hurts if i move my head too fast, and it was too bright out before the sun started setting,” ghost listed off, hotwire frowning.

    “probably concussed, not much i can do here with what i got- just don’t move too fast and let me know if anything changes. sox, tripshot, you guys are in charge for now since the commander and general need to take it easy for at least tonight.”

    both made a sound of acknowledgement, looking up as sunbeam and pup entered.

    “what the absolute spaced shit is that, vod?” sox blinked, sunbeam confusedly holding up the armful of brush, “no not that! behind you?”   

    “oh. oh! pup, it followed us,” sunbeam said softly. they dumped their armful onto pup who carried it inside and dropped the pile to begin arranging it for a fire.   

    “i think it was from that village, it’s a little akk dog, probably just barely not a puppy anymore,” sunbeam held out a hand for the scaley creature to sniff at and then eagerly bump up against. “you’re just a little fella huh? just a little bit.”

    “well, bring it on it, you big softie, but you’re sharing your rations with it,” tripshot spoke up, helping pup with the fire. it flickered to life, and the akk dog whined, but with sunbeam’s encouragement it slunk in and settled by the wall. tabbi passed out the rations for the night, all settling into silence.

    keiplr roused, though he seemed on the groggy side. hotwire frowned at that, and declared himself and keipling first watch. sox claimed the second along with ghost, the others offering third and fourth. tomorrow they’d work on reaching the evac site, since protocol said that after three days no contact, there’d be an additional party sent out to find the first. it was written for situations somewhat similar for this, since seperatist traps weren’t that uncommon.

    though ghost tried to stay awake long enough to make it to second watch along with sox, the amount of energy it had taken to even stumble along with sunbeam had completely sapped him, and when he next opened his eyes it was already morning. a blanket had been placed over him and at his side sat keipling, who was watching him. once the jedi realized his commander was awake, he gave a strained smile.

    “welcome to the waking world, ghost. i was about to have our little friend here give you a wake up kiss,” keipling patted the akk pup that had settled in front of them. it thumped its scaly tail in appreciation, and ghost glanced around the cave. hotwire dozed with a soft carry-pack over his head, and ghost had a faint hint of an amused smile on his face. sox and tripshot were tangled together, the pilot in a headlock while pup slept curled near the fire.

    “tabbi and sunbeam were the final watch, they went out to see if they could see anymore vulture-droids,” keipling spoke up, noticing ghost taking attendence. ghost nodded, wincing afterwards. keiplr looked sympathetic, and as if hotwire knew that ghost had woken up, the medic sat straight up.

    “how’s your head feeling? both of you?” he asked, voice still sounding rather sleepy, and ghost replied with a ‘so-so’ gesture. hotwire looked a bit frustrated, clearly wishing they were on the halcyon already so he could ensure there was no lasting damage. before he could say anything, footsteps approached the cave mouth and tabbi and sunbeam appeared.

    “didn’t see anything overhead, sir, i think it’d be a good idea to get going now,” tabbi reported back while sunbeam knelt down to pet the akk-dog, cooing, “i’m back, angel! yes i am, yes i am! i bet you were a good little puppy, weren’t you?”

    ghost raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment. instead, he flicked a rock across the cavern at sox and tripshot, who startled awake when it clunked off the rock wall behind them. a quick breakfast of half a ration (and a half piece for the akk-dog who sunbeam had apparently named angel), and they were off again.

    hotwire followed behind ghost and keipling who had both insted on walking themselves. the jedi had promised to speak up if he tired or his head began hurting worse, and ghost had simply blinked slowly at the medic before leaving the cave. sox and sunbeam led, angel trotting beside the latter while tripshot and pup followed behind. every now and then tabbi seperated from the group in order to circle around them to make sure nothing was coming at them from the sides, but otherwise he stuck to the middle as well.

 

     the day was getting close to an end when sunbeam stopped abruptly. beside them, angel had begun to growl and snarl, and ghost focused his attention into the forest that had caught the attention of the two. distantly, he could hear the crunching and snapping of brush and the rhythmic marching of battledroids. he had reached for his weapon, keipling doing the same, but instead ghost found himself being ushered away with the group. they took cover behind a large moss-covered rock, and they held their breath as the droids finally emerged from the woods.

    it was a small squad- clearly a scouting party judging by the lack of rank markings on any of the droids. ghost turned to tripshot, silently making the gesture for ‘inventory’ to which tripshots reply was ‘no poppers, save ammo for more’. ghost nodded, waved him towards the left side and the waved sunbeam towards the right. the two carefully crept off, angel making a whining sound as the close disappeared into the brush.

    ghost grimaced, mentally cursing when the scouting droids turned towards their hiding spot.

    “did you hear that?”

    “roger-roger.”

    “didn’t sound like a clone or a survivor.”

    “well, i’m not shooting wildlife again. you saw b-9875 do that, and look at it now!”

    “i can’t, i’m here scouting with you.”

    ghost spotted the two clones, and raised a hand to signal to them. as he expected, it caught the droids attention, and the talking two didn’t see the clones drop until it was too late, and by then pup and sox had burst out from behind the rock as well, overwhelming the scouting party.

    “if i had to hear another fucking word from that conversation, i think i would have gone and strangled them myself,” ghost growled as the group rejoined, angel eagerly pawing at sunbeam for attention. as they ensured the droids were fully destroyed and grabbed their weapons as backup, ghost turned to keipling who was checking their position.

    “by tomorrow afternoon, we should hit the pick-up site,” the jedi spoke up, “but we have a concern now- the droids won’t report back, and that may alert the seperatists of our general area.”

    “so we should keep going, and find a place near the evac site to wait, right?” sox replied, kicking away a droids head, “that’s what i think anyway.”

    “and it’s what we’re going to do, isn’t it general?” ghost didn’t look over at the jedi to confirm, instead continuing with “unless any of you need a break to rest, i suggest we get going now.” without another word, ghost began walking towards the evac site, the rest catching up with him. hotwire picked up his pace to keep in step with the commander, occasionally glancing at the commander with concern written all over his face. his head was beginning to pound harder, and it was making everything far more bothersome than it needed to be, so ghost ignored his brother. instead, he just focused on going the right way and making sure his steps were steady.  
    

    by the time they reached the site, the moon was far overhead and a chill hung in the air. though the area had been specifically chosen for being flat and easy to land and organize on, the forest still bordered it, and they settled there. hotwire had immediately set upon ghost, forcing him to sit and drink, though ghost refused anything to eat.

    they hadn’t set up a fire again due to not wanting to attract an attention, and while ghost had refused a blanket due to having it the night before, sox and tripshot had sat on either side of him and made him share it. pup curled up with hotwire (who once again placed the soft carry-pack over his head), and keipling had decided to sit watch with sunbeam and angel. tabbi dozed nearby, ready to be woken up for the second watch that would bring them to morning.

    by that time, hopefully the others would have arrived.

    despite being sandwiched between two of his brothers, ghost found himself unable to sleep. his head ached, and he had slowly grown nauseous over the walk. it had only added to his crankiness, and the normally expressionless commander had a pained scowl to his face as he sat awake. he looked over his group, hoping that seeing all of them relatively fine would settle him enough, but his body refused to do so, and ghost found himself wishing that his helmet was nearby to do his repetitive task of cleaning, but it was laying nearby his general.

    ghost caught the gaze of keipling, and the furry general tilted his head a little to the side, questioning why he was still awake. ghost gave a small shrug in response, stilling when sox rolled closer in his sleep. he looked up again at the sound of steps, and watched as angel slowly approached the trio. the akk pup settled in between ghosts legs, laying on top of the blanket, effectively finishing up the trap. with sox and tripshot at his sides, and the akk pup preventing him from carefully getting up, ghost crossed his arms and finally settled back.  
  
    when he awoke next, it was daylight again, and hotwire was gently shaking him.

    “pick up’s here, let me help you up,” hotwire’s voice was soft and quiet, lowered to try and keep from aggravating the headache anymore. a look around showed all the others up and ready to go, the pick-up team also standing nearby. ghost didn’t protest as hotwire hauled him up, and let himself lean on the medic. hotwire supported him, though ghost heard him mutter something about, “definitely concussed, really starting to show now,” but he paid that no mind.

    “it’s bullshit that you took debris to the face too, but you’re looking fine, sir,” ghost complained in a low voice to keipling as the ship took off to return to the halcyon. keipling laughed quietly, patting ghost on the side, “i told hotwire that me taking a bit of a meditative break to heal was a good idea. next time i’ll sit on your shoulders and give you a bit of a heal with the force too, commander.”

    “i think i’ll just bitch about it, if that’s alright with you.”

    “you know it is. now, have a little bit of a rest, friend. we’ll be back on the halcyon before you know it.”

    ghost leaned back to close his eyes before something occurred to him, “where’s that little pup? angel?” he hadn’t seen it when hotwire had woken him up, and he didn’t see it here. he wasn’t particularly attached to it, but he didn’t want it to be left to fend for itself.

    “oh! another ship took it with them- they brought two, one for us and one for any evacuees, just in case. all we had was the akk-dog though, but they offered him some jerkey and he was more than happy to go with them,” keipling explained, “they said it wasn’t exactly what they were expecting, but they’d take him nonetheless, so he’ll get another family to get pampered by.”

    “good. i’m just glad i wasn’t the one to tell sunbeam that they weren’t keeping it,” ghost leaned his head back again, actually closing his eyes this time. he could hear tabbi laughing at that, and imagined the look on sunbeam’s face. after a moment, he felt someone press against his other side, and he opened an eye to see pup curled up against him.

    “hotwire says you’ll be all good once he gets you in his medbay,” the young clone said, and ghost lifted an arm to place it around him.

    “i’m fine right now, pup’ika. you don’t need to worry.”

    pup leaned his head against the older clone and sighed, “back in the village, when you got knocked out.. you went limp and dropped like rocks. i was worried it had..” he trailed off, and ghost patted his shoulder with the arm around him.

    “not yet, pup. not yet. now, i’m going to try and rest again, my head still hurts. you rest too,” ghost said, closing his eye again. pup curled closer into his side, and ghost let himself drift into a doze, lulled by the engines and the mumbled chatter from his boys and the pick-up crew.

    he could almost pretend nothing had happened. the mission had been a loss from the start, a trap, but that was something to concern his reports with, and that was something he didn’t have to bother with now. for now, he’d just have a bit of a rest, like keipling said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> suggested by alex's friend @moomedmin on tumblr. written by taylor. this is almost 3,000 words and frankly i got tired of trying to end it reasonably. the ending is weird because ghost got cranky, that's my reasoning.


	14. oselion festival.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the oselites throw a bit of a festival to celebrate not having lost anyone in the seperatist's attempt to harm their homes. everyone enjoys it, except keiplr who just gets reminded how much he doesn't belong here.

    “it is a painful sight, is it not?”

    the sudden voice didn’t startle the jedi general- he had felt the elder approaching him from behind, and so instead he simply nodded. the elder sat beside him, and the two quietly gazed across the area. large cracks littered the ground, some still bubbling with lava, burning any vegetation nearby. several of the massive trees that oselite families had inhabited for generations had either caught fire from the flow or had been toppled in one of the countless battled that plagued the galaxy.

    “the trees will return, and the ground will heal itself. the land lasted through countless disasters before us- this is simply another trial it will go through,” the elder said, “life will go on, little keip. we will always pick up from what remains.”

    keipling nodded, “i know- i still wish we had gotten to it faster, maybe we could have stopped the seperatists before they had even begun with their mining operations.” the jedi fiddled with the lightsaber in his hands, and the elder placed a paw upon his shoulder.

    “perhaps, but it is unlike you to be so.. unsure. you usually take losses in stride, claiming homes can be re-built but lives are gone forever- and you lost not a single life in all this effort.”

    “i suppose i’m a little off-center- my last mission was with my former master, and we argued as we always have. it left me caught up in thought, and i neglected to keep watch over my crew as carefully as i normally would.”

    the elder hummed thoughtfully, “you feel bad that your commander suffered because of your carelessness? that you should have remembered about the copper-deposits that altered the color of the magma?” keipling winced, and the elder patted him once more, “yet you instantly tried to correct your mistake as soon as you realized, did you not? despite what the jedi order would have you believe, you are not a perfect creature- you will forget.”

    “i know you’re right, but still. i know he’s alright, just exhausted and drained by it, but i feel guilty.”

    a quiet fell between them, broken by the faint sounds from lower platforms within the tree. keipling closed his eyes to focus on them, finding laughing and faint hints of music filling the lower areas while above was silent and nearly empty.

    “will you be with us for a while longer?” the elder asked, slowly getting to his paws, giving the young oselite a grateful look as he stood to help the much older one to a standing position.

    “for a few more days- why? do you need help elsewhere?” keipling asked, starting to walk towards the platforms to the lower areas, letting the elder lean on his arms as they made their way slowly.

    “not quite- with the families all gathered together, and the little ones being scared, we thought it best to have a small celebration of sorts. you left us so young- would you even remember the story festivals?” the elder’s voice turned sad at the end, and keipling’s pace slowed.

    his jedi-hood was a sore subject- most oselites found the jedi ways to be cruel and neglectful given how oselite families were so close-knit and emotionally outspoken. having bonds was practically genetic, and the jedi code strictly forbade such a thing. combine that with how his jedi master was, and a majority thought the jedi was sorely neglected in the emotional department.

    sometimes, keipling felt they were right.

    “i can imagine what they’re like- are you inviting us all?” keipling asked, deciding to continue on with those thoughts, instead asking more about what the elder had in mind.

    “oh yes- you and your group. you know how the little ones like to show off, and the parents like to fuss over all of you. i hear eise has made more socks and a few scarves for you all,” the elder chuckled as they approached his little alcove, and bid each other good night.  
  


    “so shit’s fucked and their response is ‘hey, let’s throw a fuckin’ party and tell some talltales’? we need to adopt this shit- i’m not laying facedown on the floor after a battle anymore, i’m crackin’ open party hats and screaming the ugly lothcat into the intercom,” tripshot joked to sox as they made their way to the main floor. they could already hear the little ones screaming as they chased each other around and the music coming from the center area.

    “i think it’s going to be great! i love hearing stories- i always looked forward to when the older cadets would tell us scary stories before lights out,” pup replied, poking tripshot in the arm, “plus the little guys love seeing us!”

    “speak of the devils,” sox tilted his head towards where a group of the had gathered, and as soon as they realized the clones had seen them, they came racing over.

    “lookit, lookit! i’ve been drawin’ an’ drawin’ for ages since you guys left! i made this one for you!” the tallest said, shoving a piece of paper at the group. sox took it carefully, “look at that! you drew all of us on it, you little shiprat. you even remembered to sign it,” sox tapped the messy signature, and the young oselite puffed out his chest.

    “ub? pick ub?” a little one, probably just a few days from being nestled up with her parents, asked, her arms up in the air.

    “sure thing, little bit! you’re gettin’ so big- last i saw you, you fit inside my bucket,” tabbi cooed, scooping her up in his arms and booping her on the nose. the rest of the kids swarmed the group, by the time they made it into the center of the celebration, none of them were without a gift or a kid hanging off them.

    “good evening, ms. eise,” ghost greeted politely, acting as if he didn’t have a pair of sisters hanging off his arms, “thank you again for the gifts.”

    “oh dears, don’t you thank me! those paper-thin things they give you are about as comfortable as they are warm, you need something good for how often you boys are out and about!” a pudgy oselite with a little one in each arm replied, “you tell me if they don’t fit or if they tear now, i’ll have more before you can even finish!

    “yes ma’am!” sox mock-saluted, grinning as she rolled her eyes at him and tutted away. she made her way to each of them, fussing over the support-bandage hotwire was wearing (“i’m not hurt! it just keeps from getting cramps when i do things over and over!”), tearing up over pup’s new look (“oh, you’re getting to be just like your brothers! i’m so proud for you!”), and lecturing ghost on the bags under his eyes (“yes ma’am, i do make sure i get enough rest in between my work and reports.”)

    by the time she had finished, a majority of the kids had left to play some other games, and eise had taken the little one from tabbi, having drifted off to sleep despite all the noise. keipling rubbed his cheek where eise had pinched it, muttering something about her putting the mother in smother, though his tone was light. he glanced around the area, seeing stands that had been put up- games, food and drink, items and trinkets- it seemed that there was more than just stories like he had originally thought.

    “well, you all are free to go off and do whatever you’d like- i’m treating the next few days as leave effectively, so all i ask is that you don’t maim each other. or at least not to the point where hotwire has to do anything more than give you a patch,” the jedi said, and the group seperated after a few laughs.

    tabbi and sunbeam headed off towards a booth run by a pair that sold small trinkets. one of them brought out a small maroon box and began showing off the items inside while the other helped out some others that had wandered over. tabbi held out his wrist to let the merchant put something glittering around it, tabbi admiring the bracelet while the merchant turned his attention to sunbeam.

    meanwhile, sox and tripshot snagged pup and dragged their youngest brother over towards where the games had set up, promising to show him how to not completely suck at the games like hotwire. pup attempted to defend the medic, but hotwire just laughed in agreement and made them promise to win him something in payment. they took up at a ring-toss, loudly joking about how the games were always rigged, and sox recieved a ring to the face by the oselite running the stand, though he was laughing.

    after making his brothers promise to win him something, hotwire wandered after eise, and ghost and keipling could faintly hear him asking her for advice on patching up clothes and such, to which she delightedly offered to show him what she did.

    that left ghost and keipling alone.

    “this seems a bit much,” ghost said, glancing around the festival, “normally celebrations of this type are saved for victory, not bare survival.” keiplr shrugged, and ghost contined, “i suppose we should walk around then. the main events aren’t to begin for another hour or so.”

    “lead the way, my friend,” keiplr gestured, and though ghost raised an eyebrow, he did so, and the two began to walk around to all the different carts and booths. a pair of young siblings stopped them at one, and after a few moments of convincing and then patiently crouching, ghost and keipling continued on, though ghost now sported a clumsily drawn ghost with a t-face. keipling stopped them at a food cart, getting a plate of fried sweet-dough for himself and a fruit-slush for ghost, munching on it as they continued on again. they ran into tabbi and sunbeam at another trinket booth, and tabbi happily showed off a glittering silver bracelet made with little maroon glass beads. sunbeam had their face painted as well, a smiling sun with big triangle sunglasses, and they laughed at ghost’s face paint.

    “quick! quick! the stories are starting soon!”

    keipling turned his attention away from the three towards a pair of little ones racing towards the center, stumbling over their too long tails as they tried to stay ahead of each other. when he turned back, all three clones were looking in his direction, ghost with his arm raised and his wristcomm activated.

    “if you all are interested in hearing stories, i suggest you meet us in the middle,” the comm was turned off, and ghost had already begun to usher his general in the direction the kids had gone, tabbi and sunbeam following behind. “come along, sir.” ghost’s tone left no room for argument, unfortunately, because keipling was feeling very interested in being anywhere else but here.  
  


    “though the past days have been dire, and many troubles have been brought upon us, we are fortunate to have lost not a single one among us,” the elder’s voice rang out clearly, despite the sheer amount of oselites- young and old- that had turned up to the story time. “we have the courage of our young keipling, his friend ghost, and their family to thank for that- never will your bravery and work be forgotten.”

    sox puffed his chest out and and tripshot smacked him upside the head, making a few kids giggle. ghost stared straight ahead, and keipling had to keep from tucking his ears back as heads turned towards them. the elder had specifically not mentioned him being a jedi, or any involvement in the gar at that- the 881st was his family, but only here did they replace clones and troop with friends and family.

    “i want to hear the fog stories, elder!”

    keipling was relieved when a squeaky voice turned the attention away from him towards a little one curled up with her father, soft laughter travelling through the crowd.

    “very well, little dear, listen closely.”

    “many, many years ago, when heavy fogs filled the land and one could barely see from tree to tree, a young adventurer had begun her first quest. it had been years since the fog had settled, and each day the fog only seemed to grow thicker and thicker. determined to find the source of the fog, the little adventurer set out deep into the clouds.”

    as the elder began the story, the crowd shifted- families curled closer, babies dozing in the arms of parents or older siblings. the 881st had shifted as well, pup leaning against hotwire who was intently listening to the story. both sets of batchmates were leaning against each other, though sox seemed to be dozing off much to tripshot’s amusement.

    “the young adventurer traveled for many days, following a path that only she knew- no matter how thick the fog was nor how many times she got turned around in the trees, she was always confident in her path. one day, it led her to a wide open space- one clear of fog. the grass was green and lush, and in the center was a single person, their back facing the adventurer.”

    keipling had begun twisting his tail around his wrist, pointedly not looking at ghost or the elder, instead pretending to be looking around the crowd. the story felt too familiar, and it was beginning to make his stomach turn.

    “the adventurer approached the figure and-“ 

_and it turned around, revealing the disapproving glare of his master. master devic scowled at the young oselite who flinched away, his padawan braid flicking backwards. the jedi master stepped closer, and the fog seemed to press in and become a solid wall._

_“a jedi does not have attachments, a jedi has order, and a jedi does not let his heart soften,” master devic’s tone was icy cold, and keipling found himself paralyzed._

    “ “your fog is hurting everyone!” the adventurer declared to the figure, who seemed to be as whispy and faint as the fog it claimed to create, and the fog figure scowled, disliking the truth the adventurer spoke,” the elder continued, keipling startling out of the memory as the elder’s voice rose. out of the corner of his eye, keipling could see ghost’s hand hovering over his shoulder- the commander had noticed his general’s growing unease, but keipling shrugged it away.

    ghost frowned, but keipling made a point to try topay attention to the story, but found his mind drifting again.

_“you’ve returned from your trials, padawan alais,” his master didn’t sound proud at all- in fact, it was as if he had returned from a shopping trip and not his knighthood trials. keiplr simply nodded, exhausted by his experience- it didn’t feel as if it was truly over. the devic that had tested his faith in himself, in the force- in being a jedi itself was barely colder than the devic that stood before him._

    “ “you’re being cruel!” the adventurer cried out, and the whispy figure stilled, “we need the trees, the breeze, the fresh air! to choke us out with the fog simply because you believe us to not be deserving of the land that you once lived on is cruel! you must have lived once- known what it was like to feel!” “

    keipling felt as if the story was a punch to his gut- though he had only heard parts of it, he couldn’t catch his breath. beside him, he could feel ghost carefully get up and whisper something, and then the commander was gently ushering his out of the crowd, placing keiplr’s hand on his back and making an apologetic face towards the general.

    “wh- ghost?” keiplr finally managed to get his words out, and ghost continued being ‘escorted’ away by the general without a word. it wasn’t until they had begun to leave the festival entirely that ghost spoke, “you noticed i was growing tired, and decided that after yesterday, i probably should rest again. you decided to take me up to rest to make sure i didn’t do any work instead of resting.”

    it was very clear that ghost was lying- at this point he had dropped the act of being ushered away by his general and was instead now being the one to guide the other up the platforms. “you kept getting this distant look in your eyes, sir, and then you just stopped. so i told hotwire i was taking you out, and to come and check on us when the festival was over. if the elder asks, he’ll say what i told you- i was getting tired, and you took me to rest.”

    they had gotten to the platform the 881st used, and at that point ghost had simply hefted the jedi under his arm and hauled him inside, placing him on the nearest bed, “you should sleep- i’ll stay right here,” ghost settled on the ground, and keipling suddenly found that he was beyond exhausted- he could barely keep his eyes open.

      
    the next thing he was aware of was a hand gently shaking him, and he blearily opened his eyes to see hotwire crouched at his side with a glass of water.

    “morning, sir- how’re you feeling?” hotwire’s voice was low as he handed the oselite the water, keipling downing the glass like he hadn’t drank in ages. rather than respond, keipling just pulled a face, and hotwire patted his shoulder, “i get you. we’ve got to pack up later today, we’ve got another assignment. if you don’t feel up to it, just say the word and i’ll tell the council to piss off.”

    keiplr laughed, though it was a bit tired sounding. ghost re-appeared and sat cross-legged beside the medic, and after taking the glass back, hotwire left the two alone. “do you want to tell me about it?” ghost’s voice was quiet, and keipling could almost pretend he hadn’t heard at all. but ghost wasn’t a fool, he would know, and so the jedi had no choice but to reply.

    “it was.. a memory. about my knighthood trials,” he said, though he kept his eyes faced away from his commander, “about devic. i don’t really want to think about it, i’m still so tired.” he was obviously deflecting, but he hoped that ghost would allow it, he wasn’t in the mood to think more about it.

    “..i’ll be here if you want to. get some sleep sir, i’ll keep watch.” ghost said after a few moments, and turned to lean his back against the bed. keipling settled back into the bed, just as tired as before. ghost started up a rythmic tapping- all-clear, safe, my-watch, all battle signals to let the jedi know he could breathe.

    the tapping followed him into his dreams, and for once, he rested easy knowing his back was covered and protected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keipling, returning to his home planet: maybe i'll feel more belonging here than in the temple.  
> everyone: who is this emotionally stunted child.  
> keip: ah. i see. i will die everywhere i guess.
> 
> also ms. eise is the closest to a mom all of these fools get (not counting ghost). she's the super mom.


	15. three stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunbeam shares a puppy vid, Kicker threatens violence, and Keip takes care of Ghost (written by alex)

“Whatcha got there, Sunbeam? Are you watchi-”

“No! No, I am not, and  I’m not even letting you finish that sentence,” Sunbeam cut Tripshot off, glaring at the other who didn’t look bothered at all. Instead, he just leaned over further to try and look at what they were watching, Sunbeam scooting over on the seat to allow him to sit.

“Do you remember Angel? The akk-pup from a while back?” Tripshot scrunched up his face in thought for a few moments, “Oh yeah! That little thing followed you all around, Ghost was glad he didn’t have to tell you that we weren’t keeping it.”

Sunbeam flicked their teammate in the shoulder, “Whatever. Anyway, they couldn’t find the original family, but the refuge? The shelter? Whatever they call it- the place that Angel ended up staying at in the meantime decided they liked him too much to find him a new home, so he stayed.”

“And this has to do with the vid you’re watching because?”

“Because it’s a vid of Angel, dipstick- see look!”

Sunbeam held out the pad and unpaused the video, Tripshot leaning closer to watch. The camera was shaky, but it was still easy to see that Angel was over the moon to be playing with her new owners. 

“-So I’m calling Angel over and over to feed her, and she’s not coming. So I come in to ask the boss if she’s seen her, and well.  You can see for yourself,” The camera person sounded amused as they zoomed the camera in on where Angel was sleeping directly on top of what looked to be a rodian- most of them was obscured by the sleeping akk-pup.

“Stop filming and help me- I have work I gotta do!” The probable-rodian tried to sound scolding, but ended up laughing instead. Angel sneezed in her sleep, and the camera person started laughing ass well, the vid ending at that.

“Aww, your puppy pal got a happy ending,” Tripshot placed a hand over his heart, making an overly touched looking face. Sunbeam rolled their eyes and shoved him, “Do you want to see the other clips or not?”

“..Show me.”

 

\---------------------------------------

 

“Fourty, you better put your fuckin’ hair up or cut it it, because if I get hit int he face with your fuckin’ ponytail again, I’m going to decapitate you. That is a threat and a promise,” Kicker slammed down his thermos onto the cafeteria table, glaring down Fourty who looked startled.

“Is… Technically having my hair in a ponytail IS having it up, and anyway, didn’t Piper tell you to stop being so..” Fourty gestured at the medic who scowled back at him.

“Fine. Dearest brother whom I love so much, you have such long luxurious hair that it fills me with the desire to buy industrial sized scissors and remove your dear little head from your dear little shoulders. That’s a pink promise!” Kicker’s voice was sickly sweet, his hands folded underneath his chin, “Was that better?”

    “No and please never do that again, I think I’d rather juggle thermals,” Fourty shuddered, sliding away his empty tray, “I’m just glad I finished eating before you came in here to harass me, I think hearing you call me ‘dearest brother’ killed any desire to eat for the rest of my life.”

    “You called Fourty ‘dearest brother’? You feelin’ alright there Kicker?” Piper came up behind Kicker, faking looking concerned and checking the medic’s forehead for a fever. Kicker elbowed the captain in the side, scowling, “You missed the part where I threatened to remove his head from the rest of him.”

    “I thought I asked you to stop that?”

    “You did.”

    “I see.”

    “Hey, if it’s cool I’m going to go ask HD to hide me for the rest of my life so Kicker can’t kill me. See ya later, Piper, please don’t remove my bones in my sleep, Kicker,” Fourty said, dumping their tray in the nearest sink and heading towards the door. Kicker leaned back and shouted after him, “You can run, but the ship’s still in space! I’ll find you eventually!”

    “Kicker..”

 

\---------------------------------------

 

Keipling hesitated outside Ghost’s room- rather than relax with the others after a mission like he usually did, Ghost had immediately retreated to his room- not the bunks. His room. The room he barely used except for when his brothers were having trouble sleeping and needed some alone time.

    The jedi raised a paw to knock on the door but it slid open before he could. Ghost stood in the doorway, half dressed in armour and his helmet still on. He gestured the jedi in, closing the door after and just sitting on the bed without saying a word. Keipling busied himself with carefully placing away the armour that the commander had taken off, Ghost removing the rest after a few moments. He shuffled towards the small private rack that came with his room after that, and the muffled sound of a shower turning on filled the room.

    Keiplr opened the door just enough to slide a pair of sleep pants and a shirt onto the floor and then returned to busying himself around the room. He pulled out one of the many rags that Ghost kept as well as a bottle of cleaner, placing them both on the bed alongside Ghost’s helmet and sat to wait.

    Minutes later, Ghost emerged from the washroom, hair still dripping and sat next to the jedi. He clutched the helmet in his lap, not really staring at anything in particular, just sitting still and quiet.

    “...Are you hurt?” Keipling asked, keeping his voice low. Ghost just shook his head in response.

    “Should I go? I can give you your space if you need it.”

    Another head shake.

    “..You should sleep then-I’ll stay, don’t worry, everyone else will be fine. You always watch over them, let someone take care of you this time.”

    Ghost slumped down a little, a quiet sigh escaping him as he nodded. Keiplr sent the cleaner and rag away to a shelf with a flick of his wrist, Ghost placing his helmet on the floor beside the bed. Slowly, as if everything in his body ached, Ghost moved under the covers, Keiplr sitting on the floor beside the bed.

    “It’s still early. We have reports to do.” Ghost’s voice was tired, his eyes already nearly shut.

    “There’ll be time to do them tomorrow, friend.” Keiplr soothed, patting Ghost on the cheek, “It’ll be fine.”

    “..Wake me up if they need anything.”

    “If there’s anything I can’t handle, I’ll wake you.”

    “..Not wh’ I said..”

    Keiplr smiled softly, not making it secret at all as he pressed the force around his friend, surrounding him with peace and warmth and the urge to just sleep. Ghost just sighed in response, letting himself drift off.

    “I know, friend. I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kicker WILL kill Fourty (yes it is FOUR-ty not FOR-ty) and ghost WILL kill keip when he wakes up and all the reports are done


	16. What do dreams mean?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pup's always had wierd dreams.

    From practically the first week Pup had joined the 881st main unit, before he had even chosen his name, he had issues sleeping alone. Sleeping in his own bunk? Hard. Sleeping in an empty room? Downright impossible. Pup slept better  on the hard ground during missions than in his much softer bunk because of how much close he’d be to the others.

    Sleeping with someone else wasn’t uncommon- Sox and Tripshot often squeezed into the same bunk after long missions, Hotwire never minded sitting with someone in the medbay if they were hurt and needed some extra comfort. So no one was surprised when they woke in the morning and found Pup curled up against Ghost’s side, hogging all the blankets.

    Ghost was a light sleeper too, so the first time Pup had done so, he had known as soon as Pup stepped out of bed. He kept his eyes closed as Pup carefully stepped closer to his bunk, hesitating just before moving to try and wake the commander up. Ghost had rolled over without being asked, startling Pup who froze even as Ghost sleepily lifted up the blanket to let Pup crawl in. After a few moments, he had opened an eye to faintly see Pup’s shape still standing in front of his bed, and in a sleep-rough voice had said, “Wha’re ya waitin’ fer? C’mon ‘nd get back t’sleep.”

    After that, Pup usually spent three or four nights sleeping with Ghost- sometimes just because he couldn’t sleep and sometimes because he had dreams.

    “They’re just.. so vivid. Like I’m wide awake and actually there- I can feel the sun burning down and taste the smoke in the wind.” Pup had explained one night after a particularly rough dream that had left him teary and struggling to calm down enough to sleep. “There’s always this feeling of doom and chaos, and I’m just there to witness it all.”

    There were a few different dreams, some worse than others and some better. At first they had just been normal dreams-reoccurring maybe, but just dreams. After Pup had come down with a fever one night and feverishly dreamed about something leaking and the ship bursting into flame and falling out of hyperspace to crash into a space station, begging his brothers to check in such a frenzy that Tripshot had gone just to settle the youngest. Minutes later, Tripshot had sent a message asking for help cleaning up a leak in the backup fuel cells for the LAATs, the leak dangerously close to an active power unit, they had stopped being just dreams.

    They kept it secret, but always listened to Pup’s dreams- Keiplr kept a small journal that he and Pup wrote in before spending time talking about them. A dream out of the ordinary was one to be cautious of, they had less time to learn about them, but the reoccurring ones were father away- they could learn more. Or at least, they could about more of them.

    Ghost blinked awake, momentarily confused. Something had woken him, but whatever it was he couldn’t hear it any longer, but Ghost didn’t close his eyes to go back to sleep immediate, instead waiting. He was rewarded with the very quiet sound of sniffling and a muffled cry, like someone was desperately trying to not be heard. He sat up and scanned the room, the dimmed light from the hall just enough to let him see.

    Sunbeam was twisted up in the covers, Tabbi with his completely off and on the ground. Sox and Tripshot both drooling onto their pillows, a leg dangling off the side, while Hotwire’s face was covered by his pillow. Only Pup was unaccounted for, though the commander had an idea as to where he was. Quietly, making sure he wouldn’t wake the others, Ghost shuffled out of the bunks and towards the washracks just a few doors down. He could hear a sink running and more sniffling, and he knocked on the shut door. After a few moments Pup pulled it open and stood in the doorway, eyes red and tears running down his face, and Ghost stepped in and closed the door.

    “You alright?” Ghost’s voice was quiet, Pup furiously rubbing his eyes before shaking his head, Ghost pulling his close as he broke into another round of sobbing. The commander just stood, rocking back and forth on his feet and humming quietly until Pup pulled away. The poor clone looked exhausted and Ghost took charge, wetting a smaller towel and dabbing at Pup’s cheeks and eyes until they looked a little less red and then guiding him out of the washracks. Pup looked a little confused as they passed the bunks until Ghost guided him right into Keiplings room, the jedi awake and waiting.

    “Will you tell us about it?” he asked as Ghost sat them both on the jedi’s bed, Keiplr himself settling on the other side. Pup hunched in on himself, closing his eyes as he nodded.

    “I’ve been having that dream again.”

    Ghost and Keipling shared a look, instantly understanding, “I think this is your worst reaction to any of the dreams,” Keiplr’s voice was soft, like speaking to a frightened youngling just having his first force-dreams, “Was something different?”

    “H-I-We-“

    “Take a breath, at your pace.” Ghost put a hand on Pup’s shoulder, feeling him trembling, “It’s okay.”

    “It was the big battle one- the one where there’s just thousands and thousands of us all just blank-faced and marching. There’s no battalion colours, no distinctive armour, just white plastoid and marching. Normally it just feels foreboding and the feeling that everything’s wrong and out of control peaks and I wake up, but this time..”

    Pup wiped his face, growing teary again, his voice breaking, “It broke into a different scene with piles of empty robes- jedi robes. Everyone was just steadily marching over them, crushing and tearing them up as they walked over them. And then it’s like they realized I was there, because they all turned. My neck was burning like someone was jabbing into it with a heated blade, and my head hurt so bad and then they were all firing at me and and I felt every bolt hit me and still I wasn’t going down and they wouldn’tstopandjustkeptfiringandfiringan-“

    “Pup, breathe,” Keiplr turned Pup’s face towards him as he began speaking faster and faster, tears pooling in his eyes, “Breathe. It’s okay, you’re safe here with us.”

    Pup nodded, a hiccup escaping him as he wiped away a few stray tears, “It just felt so real, and I woke up and my head felt like someone was bashing into it, and I felt so sick,” he took a struggling breathe before weakly speaking up again, “I guess we should write that all down, huh?”

    Keiplr shared a look with Ghost, and both shook their head. “I recorded it all- me and the general can write it down later. You should try and sleep- we’re both right here,” Ghost reassured, shifting back to sit against the wall, putting a pillow in his lap and pulling Pup down to rest his head there, “We won’t let anything happen to you tonight,” Keiplr agreed, running his paw over Pup’s buzzed hair.

    Pup’s eyes drooped shut, clearly tired out by his ordeal, managing to mutter out a, “Tha’s sneaky,” before falling asleep. Ghost raised an eyebrow at Keipling, who winked back in response.

    “Force suggestion? That is sneaky.”

    “He needed the extra push,” Keiplr said, voice lowering as to not risk waking pup again, “Those dreams.. Ghost..”

    “I know. They’re not just dreams, huh?”

    “I don’t think so. But I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to him or the rest of you because of it. That’s a promise.” Keiplr’s tone was firm, and as he met Ghost’s eyes, the commander nodded and turned his attention back to Pup.

    “I know, Keip.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shaak-Ti on kamino: CT-(numbers here) you look unwell. Did you not sleep?  
> CT-(numbers here) AKA PUP: no i had these dreams where (future shit happens)  
> Shaak-Ti: hm. Have you tried Nyquil
> 
> Also what yall think pup dreams abt hmm? ;3c


	17. DoodlePup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another drawing shortstory

    Hyperspace travel wasn’t as instantaneous as most people believed- the average person travelled from planet to nearby planet, maybe going system to system every few years, and then rarely going from one side of the galaxy to the other. The clone army however spent more collective time travelling than they did in active battle, though as battles grew longer and time grew short, various batallions had been assigned to systems and generally stayed. The exception were the largest batallions- the main ones, and the small ones- back up and search-and-rescue, those continued having long travel times.

    It left free time to fill up- doing tasks could only take up so much time and even adding daily practice and work-outs could only fill so much. So clones (and jedi to a lesser extent) picked up habits.

    “What’re you drawing now, Sox?” Pup peered over his brothers shoulder, the pilot cross-legged on the couch with a sketchpad in his lap. Sox patted the seat beside him and Pup climbed over the back to sit, leaning against the older clone.

    “Sunbeam apparently gets vids of Angel- they called her the ‘unofficial mascot’ of our group,” Sox replied, making air quotes as he said unofficial mascot, “So I was adding little doodles of Angel to the list of things we could put on our LAAT noses- y’ever seen General Fisto’s LAATs? They got his face on a big ass missile, it’s funny as hell.”

    Pup imagined theirs like that- a missile with a pair of downward-drooped ears and a long fuzzy tail and snorted, and Sox gave him a look that said he knew exactly what the youngest clone was imagining. Pup reached over to snag the pen from Sox’s hand and quickly scribbled out the idea, Sox adding a matching one with a T-shaped face and a ghost on the side.

    “What ideas did you have for Angel’s drawings?” Pup asked curiously, “I like it when you show me your stuff.”

    “Hey, don’t say that too loud- Tripshot’ll get jealous and then he’ll spend the rest of your life showing you the junk he draws and asking if you think it’s cool. I speak from experience.” Sox flipped a few pages back, uncrossing his legs to sit easier.

    “That’s fair.”

    “I’ve had to deal with his stupid face since we got punted out of the tubes buddy, it gets old real fast.” Sox replied, ignoring Pup’s amused, “We all have the same face though,” and instead starting to show off some of the drawings.

    “Of course, I had to make one of a mini Angel sitting in Sunbeam’s bucket, it’s right next to the one of mini Keiplr sitting in Ghost’s bucket,” Sox pointed it out, both half coloured, “The general thinks it’s funny as hell, Ghost gave it his usual ‘mm.’ of approval so I’m pretty sure he also thinks it’s funny as hell.”

    “It is pretty good- what’s this one?” Pup pointed to a half-lined cartoony doodle of one clone chasing another, the chaser with an oversized chainsaw above his head.

    “Oh- that’s Kicker chasing Fourty. I was planning on giving it to him after I finished it today, but he’s double murder-y I think, so I’ll wait.”

    “That’s a good idea, I think Hotwire would have some small issue with you being dismembered,” Pup agreed, “Show me the others?”

    “I have a better idea- you design me one.”

    Pup startled, looking down at the pen he still held in his hand, “I don’t really draw anything though?”

    Sox shrugged, “No one does. Just doodle- don’t make it look good, just have fun with it, I’ll give you help if you want.”

    Pup hesitated a moment but took the sketchbook as Sox handed it over, “Just go for it, Pup’ika. You can do it, just chill and let the pen do whatever the fuck it wants.”

    “What if the pen wants to draw a di-“

    “Let the pen do whatever it wants.”  
  


    “So you did this one, Pup?” Tripshot leaned over the mess hall table, the sketchboo wide open in the middle, “Looks pretty good- you got a good array of plants there!”

    “I mean- Sox did most of the detail work, I just kinda.. did whatever the pen wanted to.”

    Tripshot nodded, stuffing the rest of his roll in his mouth and swallowing before continuing, “Sox says that’s the best way- I usually just draw dicks when that happens.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ghost: tripshot stop drawing dicks on our LAATs  
> tripshot: but sox is flying them! you can't expect me to NOT cover everything he does in dicks???


	18. Sick days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourty, Kicker, and Scatter all get sick- sounds like a great time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written by alex, based off a prompt sent by fandom-trash224!! Fuck yeah twilly ty for my life!  
> Prompt: Chills, Hand carding through hair, and “I feel like shit”

Sox and Tripshot watched from their bunk as Piper wandered in, brow furrowed. As if he didn’t know the two were there, the captain pulled open the closet that held the spare bedding and made a confused sound. He turned away to glance around the room, startling when he saw the pair watching him, clearly amused.

“Kriff- you can’t let a guy know you’re in the room when he enters?” Piper swore, a hand hovering over his chest. Sox snickered, and Tripshot shrugged.

“Watcha looking for anyway, Mister Captain Piper Sir?” Sox asked, the over-use of titles making his brother grin. Piper moved closer, eyeing the bunks as he did.

“Blankets- for some reason Fourty’s asking for some, but I’ve looked literally everywhere and there are none.”

“That’s ‘cos he already took all the blankets here, dipshit.”

Kicker’s voice sounded from the door, and when the three turned their attention to it, he was leaning against it with an annoyed look on his face.

“Fourty caught some bug- I told his dumbass if he needed anything to ask me or Hotwire. I’d kick his ass, but he’s sick enough,” Kicker informed the captain, “So don’t fucking go in our bunks. Sleep somewhere else. Scatter already caught it too, and I’m getting it. So tell anyone who isn’t sick to fuck off elsewhere, and if they are sick, to fuck off to the Honeydew bunks,” Kicker pushed off from the door, giving the three seconds to digest the bundle of information before he vanished from sight.

Piper sighed, and ran his hand down his face, “I hate when they’re sick.”

\--------------------

“That’s not laced with anything, is it?” Fourty looked nervous at the packet that Kicker held out to him, though he gratefully took the water. Kicker glared at him, and Fourty quickly picked the pills out of the foil and took them, knowing that sick-Kicker had less patience than normal Kicker- and that was saying something.

“I sstill don’t fe-feel good,” Scatter whimpered from the blanket mountain that he had accumulated over the few hours since he had admitted to Kicker that he wasn’t feeling great either.

“The good news is that your fever’s tamed for the time being,” Kicker replied, sitting on the bunk next to the newest, stiffening as Scatter leaned his head onto the medic. Fourty froze, and for a moment, the room was completely silent.

Scatter didn’t even seem to notice, just looked miserable. Despite all the blankets, he was still shivering- Fourty could see it even from the bunk over.

“I feel like sh-shit- my whole body f-fucking hurts,” Scatter pressed closer, and slowly Kicker raised a hand to hover over Scatter’s head. Fourty winced, expecting Kicker to smack the shit out of the shiny.

Instead, Kicker’s hand rested on his head, gently rubbing his hand through his hair. It was still in the standard-type cut that most shinies started with, not short like Pups’ but no where near the length of Fourtys’ hair. From the way Scatter sighed and settled, it looked like it felt nice too, sending a pang of jealousy through Fourty.

It had been a long time since the medic was nice to him- hell, Kicker was barely civil with Fourty most days. Everyone and anyone had more friendly interactions with Kicker than Fourty did.

“Stop looking like you ate the worlds shittiest fruit,” Kicker’s voice broke through Fourtys’ thoughts, and he looked up to see the medic scowling at him. He didn’t exactly look great either, his eyes hazy with fever and Fourty had caught him being sick in the bathroom after un-officially quarantining them in the bunks.

“I don’t look like that, fuck off,” Fourty grumbled back, pulling his blankets closer and rubbing his throat. Kicker rolled his eyes and gestured with his hands.

“..What?”

“For fucks sake. That was a ‘get over here’ motion, piss for brains, you’re going to be mopey and sick over there alone so might as well be miserable with Scatter. Besides, your hair’s coming undone.”

Fourty freed a hand from his own blanket wrap to find that Kicker was right- the messy ponytail had come undone, the elastic having apparently snapped. Slowly Fourty got up from his bunk and scooted over to where Scatter had dozed off on Kicker, sitting on the other side of the medic.

The pair was silent as Kicker took the elastic Fourty offered him and quickly pulled his hair back and up, forming a messy but stable bun.

“You didn’t even pull my hair..” Fourty said aloud, a hint of disbelief in his tone. Even before, whenever Kicker did his hair up, the medic would always tug it just to be an ass.

‘“I’m sure you feel shit enough, figured I’d save you the grief,” Kicker replied, lifting a hand and placing it on Fourty’s forehead.

“Yeah, I feel like shit. I’m starting to get cold too, and my body feels like it’s gonna fall apart,” Fourty admitted, trying not to flinch away from Kickers too-cold hand. After a moment Kicker pulled his hand away with a sigh, his face clearly expression that while Fourtys fever hadn’t gotten worse, it wasn’t better. Figuring that’s all that the medic wanted, Fourty went to get up and was startled to find Kicker’s hand on his shoulder, holding him down.

“Just stay here, get comfortable,” Kicker said, moving to pull one of the bigger blankets around the three of them, “Let the brat steal your heat or something.”

Fourty settled back down, a bit unsure. As the collective warmth from all three of them plus the blankets started to work through him though, he started to drift towards leaning against Kicker as well. As his head connected with Kickers shoulder, he froze, expecting the medic to shove him off.

Instead, he just stiffened and took a deep breath. Fourty glanced up to see that while Kicker looked annoyed, he was starting to get drowsy as well, and decided to take his chances. As he finally began to truly drift off, he felt Kickers arm raise up and settle on his shoulders, the medic leaning his head on Fourtys.

Deciding that he wasn’t in danger of being mauled, Fourty finally gave in to the warmth of sleep, Kicker undoubtedly close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pup: im baby  
> scatter: UH ACTUALLY
> 
> (meanwhile, in the 881st bunk, piper is absolutely worrying that fourty has been killed by kicker. honeydew is like "nah its ok" but hm.)


	19. a little lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> scatter: haha im lost!
> 
> piper, in that panicky-calm voice:where's my shiny sox  
> sox, looking around for honeydew: your what

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written by alex

Scatter wandered through the ship halls, clutching his helmet to his chest and desperately trying to look like he knew where he was going. He swore the ship information that they always studied didn’t have this many halls or turns- but he had a sneaking suspicion that he had no idea where he was.

Groaning, he leaned against the wall. One of the main unit had been showing him around and introducing, and then he had gotten distracted. Next thing he knew, he was alone in the hall and had no idea where he was.

Scatter was tempted to try and call one of the others that he had somewhat met- that Hotwire medic seemed much nicer than the medic his new unit had. As he raised his arm up, he came to the realization that he not only hadn’t set up his wristcomm, but he also didn’t know any of their private commcodes.

With a louder groan, Scatter dropped his arm to his side again, and slid down the wall.

“I can’t believe I got lost,” He said aloud, “Bad enough I got my name ‘cos I’m always getting lost, but I officially get assigned to a unit instead of bouncing around, and I get lost.” He sighed, putting his head in his hands, “Back to the lost sheep I guess. Totter always told me that if I wander off too far and get lost, that I should stay where I am. Guess that’s all I can do.”

\---------------------

“What do you mean? You lost Scatter? You lost my shiny?!”

Sox winced at Piper’s gradually increasing pitch, rubbing his ear, “Look, Captain pied piper of melon, I’m sure it’s fine. He’ll turn up!”

Piper took in a deep breath and folded his hands in front of his mouth, and gave Sox a look that screamed ‘I’m five seconds from experiencing every range of an anxiety attack at once’. Sox glanced around for anyone to save him from his fate, making a relieved sound when he saw HD already walking over.

The bulkier clone put his hands on the captains’ shoulders, “Alright Pipes, why don’t you go tell the commander about Scatter, and I’ll go have a look around, huh? I’m sure Sox’ll let his crew know we’re a shiny short.”

Sox nodded rapidly, dipping out of the room before anything else could be said. Piper buried his face in his hands, and HD gave him a comforting pat on the back.

“I can’t believe we lost our shiny, ‘Dew.”

“From what I head about our shiny, I can,” was the amused reply.

\---------------------

Scatter had almost begun to doze off where he was sitting. Late nights worrying about the transfer to a supposedly permanent unit hadn’t done his naturally wandering mind any favours, and he was tempted to use this chance to catch up on some sleep.

Before he could truly slip off to sleep however, he heard booted steps approaching and then stop in front of him. Blinking blearily, Scatter glanced up to see another clone in front of him. Trying to think of who it was, Scatter glanced at his hair- curly- matching it to those he had seen already.

“You seem lost, buddy, How about a bit of help?”

“Sooox?” He asked, hesitantly. An amused look and a head shake was his response, and Scatter sighed.

“Nah, we haven’t met yet- I’m Honeydew, I tend to be damage control,” Honeydew introduced himself and offered Scatter a hand up, “You can call me HD, everyone does.”

“Oh- okay. I’m Scatter, I’m sure you can guess why,” Scatter replied, a bit embarrassed but taking the hand up and getting to his feet. HD shrugged, gesturing down the hall.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll just keep a closer eye on you. Now, Pipes about to tear this place apart lookin’ for you, let’s go show him you’re not lost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> from a prompt ask on tungle!


	20. kickers fucking pissed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> written by alex  
> kicker's always had a temper (that's putting it mildly) but is that really the only reason he goes after Fourty so much?

    From the start, Kicker stood out from the rest. It wasn’t exactly a good thing considering that they were supposed to be brainless and identical, and it was even worse considering how Kicker stood out. Before he had even made it to cadet status, the medic-to be had countless disciplinary marks on his file. Starting fights, hurting the other cadets, disobeying the trainers, Kicker did it all. The rest of the group barely managed to keep Kicker from being taken away- from being wiped clean like a memory drive. Surely he would grow out of it- surely the aggressive tendencies would prove useful in the field.

    Except when it came to the field, Kicker didn’t only go after the training droids.

    Shaak-Ti stood at the observation deck, simply watching the chaos below. It was an off-training session, requested by the batch for extra practice, and from their current performance it was sorely needed.

    “Kicker! Stop- damn it quit it!” One pleaded, leader in rank only. Two others lingered behind him, not at all looking like they wanted to get involved. Kicker- aptly nicknamed judging by how he was repeatedly kicking a curled up teammate, shot the leader a glare and let one final kick loose before stalking across the field.

    “Piper, I’m going to fucking kick your ass. I’m going to kick your ass!” Piper threw his hands up in surrender, and as the downed teammate stumbled to his feet, Shaak-Ti’s voice rang through the training room.

    “That will be enough, all of you. CT-4034, are you in need of aid?” The trooper in question waved off the concern and when the jedi had come down to the training floor, all were standing at attention.

    “I would like to hear what had happened to cause such a fight between the group- I am aware that it isn’t uncommon for this unit,” Her voice was steady as she looked over the group, “Perhaps re-assignment would-”

    “No!” Piper blurted out, looking immediately horrified that he had cut off the jedi, but all she did was gesture for him to continue.

    “It’s just overtraining, ma’am. We’ve been logging extra training hours, and we’re all tired and sore, so we’ve just been getting on each others nerves. In fact, we should probably be getting to the bunks now- I mean we’ve got training in the morning and we want to be rested, and we’ve still got to clean and put away our training gear and-”

    “Ease. I understand- though you will face much tougher obstacles in the field, you will have others to fall back on. I will let the others know you and your unit are excused from training for the time being,” Piper visibly relaxed at that, and Shaak-Ti turned to leave.

    “I can’t believe she bought your bullshit,” Kicker scoffed, eying Piper with a look of annoyance, and Piper felt his own anger bubbling up.

    “Yeah, well if you could stop fucking trying to, oh I don’t know, kill your team? Your brothers? For five fucking minutes, maybe I wouldn’t have to shit out my mouth instead of my ass,” Piper stomped out of the training hall. The two others quickly followed after, leaving only Kicker and CT-4034.

    “..Kicker, I wish you’d just talk to us. To me. We’re your vod- you can tell us anything,” the numbered clone sighed, rubbing his ribs, “I know you’re medic and all, but that doesn’t really make getting patched up any easier.”

    “..Leave me your armour and shit. I’ll clean it, just have dear angel Piper fix you up and shit. I’ll be there before light’s out,” Kicker avoided eye contact, choosing instead to stalk out of the training hall, glaring at the ground. CT-4034 sighed and followed after the medic, knowing that the conversation was as good as over.

 

    Kicker smashed the butt of his blaster into the droid at his feet, garbled jibberish still repeating from the voicebox. With every clang of the weapon meeting metal, the metal frame of the droid dented and sparked. All the medic could focus on was the glitching “Rog-gg-gg-Rog-Er-er-errrogg” escaping the droid.

    “-Er?”

    The fact that it was still making noise only angered him further. He hurled the useless weapon away and raised a foot, crushing the neck of the droid below it. He could feel the wires snapping, the metal bending, and he lifted his foot to kick at it.

    “-icker?”

    The head bounced away, neck and shoulders sparking from where they had separated. 

    “-ear me?”

    It was still making noise.

    “Kicker!”

    The medic whirled around with a snarl on his face and an arm raised to punch whatever droid was behind him, whatever droid had managed to learn his name. His fist was caught mid-air and immediately he moved to kick instead and found that caught as well.

    “Kicker, it’s just me. You good? We’re heading back to the ship now,” Honeydew slowly let go of the medics arm and leg as he pulled away. He didn’t move too far from the medic, sizing him up and Kicker realized he was trembling.

    “Yeah. Let’s just go,” Kicker pushed past him, ignoring the heavy sigh that followed. Kicker kept his eyes away from the others the trip back, actually snarling at Pup when the youngest bumped against him as they left. He could hear Piper and Honeydew apologizing as he stormed out of the hanger. Crewmen avoided the medic as he made his way down the halls, one turning and entering another hallway as he realized who was heading towards him.

    Kicker had half a mind to head to the medbay and lock it down before he remembered Hotwire would be there- probably with Tabbi too. The former pilot had become somewhat of a half-medic, and the medbay had become crowded. He felt a fresh wave of anger at that, and his face twisted further.

    He picked up the pace until he was practically sprinting down the halls, steps echoing down the empty corridor. It was too loud, and Kicker felt the need to cover his ears and scream- every step was like a nail driving into his skull.

    By the time Kicker had made it to the least used storage space, he felt as if he was an active thermal, waiting for the last second to tick by so he could explode. He fumbled with his armour, the clasps not coming undone fast enough, and tossed it away as soon as he was freed. The pieces scattered around the area and he squeezed his way in between the supply crates. The space got smaller and smaller until he could barely fit, and then he pushed through into a small opening. It was the same size as a bunk- big enough to lay in or to sit hunched over in, but easy to overlook.

    The medic squeezed his hands together, trying to get himself under control. Breathing exercises. Whatever the bullshit Keiplr was always trying to preach about finding peace. All Kicker wanted to do was stop holding back- he wanted to tear something apart with his bare hands.

He didn’t even know what had set him off. Normally it was Fourty being Fourty or that annoying wanna-be Pup following like a lost little sheep. No, it had just been a standard fight. Fights were where he had the most control- he didn’t have to hold back, but he had just..

It was like a terrifying blur of being angry. One second he’s firing at a standard droid, the next second Honeydew’s holding him like..

The next second, Honeydew’s holding him like he’s afraid the medic’s going to tear him apart. Like he’s actually scared by the medic. The world around Kicker seemed to screech to a halt, and he couldn’t breathe. The kaminoans had always said one day they thought he’d lose it and kill his brothers. He never believed it- his brothers never believed it, with maybe the exception of Fourty.

But the way Honeydew had looked at him?

The way Honeydew had stayed at arms reach when Kicker had pulled away, the fact that Honeydew had been shaking-

The fact that the look in his vod’s eyes clearly showed that he wasn’t sure that Kicker wouldn’t hurt him?

It squashed every feeling of anger out of him, filling him with an intense desire to get out, to find his group and frantically assure them that they were safe. to have them assure him that they knew they were safe.

Kicker scrambled out of his area, suddenly feeling like the small area was no longer comforting but suffocating. He squeezed through the supply crates, stumbling over his discarded helmet and armour, heading back through the halls with a sense of desperation instead of unrelenting anger.

After missions, they usually decompressed in their bunks much like the main unit did, and so that’s where the medic headed. As he approached the door, Kicker slowed, trying to not seem so panicked and afraid- it wasn’t like him and would certainly send Piper and Honeydew into a flurry.

“-ing unreasonable that we always have to tiptoe.”

Kicker stopped short, just outside the doorframe. It was open and he could easily hear in, could easily hear the frustration and anger in Fourty’s voice.

“Fourty, that’s unfair- sure, Kicker’s always had a temper, but that’s just how he is. Just like how Piper’s an anxious wreck and Ghost’s… well, you know. Ghost.”

Honeydew’s voice followed, more soothing compared to Fourty- the heavy gunner was always the one to settle arguments and fights, the most level-headed out of them all. For a moment, Kicker debated on walking in and ending the conversation there, but the next words stopped him.

“Piper’s anxiety doesn’t nearly get us killed! Piper’s anxiety hasn’t nearly broken our ribs! How many times did Kicker kick our ass in training alone- his fucking name comes from him literally kicking us while we were downed, ‘Dew!” 

    Fourtys voice raised with each word he said until Kicker was certain Ghost or the jedi would appear to see what the issue was. The sudden need to be comforted by his vod was slowly draining away, and vanished all together at what Fourty said next, an ice-cold anger replacing it.

    “Sometimes I wish the fucking kaminoans had taken him away, you know, reconditioned him. Maybe then at least I wouldn’t fucking worry about being killed by someone who’s supposed to be my vod.”

    For a moment, the room was silent.

    Then it was as if someone else was piloting his body- Kicker found himself standing in the door, visibly shaking. At the look on Pipers eyes, Fourty turned and paled at the sight of Kicker.

    “Kic-”

    Kicker screeched, flinging himself forward. A red haze descended upon him, and he could feel Honeydew and Piper struggling to pull him off Fourty, could feel Fourty curled up below him as blow after blow landed upon him.

    He wasn’t even making words, just screaming and yelling as the two dragged him off, Honeydew scooping him up despite the violent struggling and rushing out of the room.

    Kicker gripped Honeydew’s shoulders tightly, undoubtedly causing the other pain, but Honeydew didn’t say anything. Instead, he just steadily made his way through the halls and cutting through rooms, returning to the storage room Kicker had just left.

    Unable to get through the supply crate maze with Kicker in his arms, Honeydew instead sat in the furthest corner, Kicker between him and the wall.

    “Talk to me, Kicks, talk to me,” Honeydew’s voice was soft and worried, and Kicker felt like a cadet all over again, shaking after his first big outburst that ended in a physical fight.

    “He wants me- wants them to fucking clean me out, D, wants them to fucking wipe me out like a clean slate,” Kickers voice shook and he felt Honeydew squeeze him closer. He fell silent after that, simply exhausted by the day. Between the battle and the emotional whiplash, Kicker had no energy in him to be furious and angry anymore.

    Instead, a cold pit had formed, and he knew that a line had been crossed that could never be uncrossed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fourty is an asshole but kicker kind of is too. shits rough n hard to figure out when ur literally u know. created to fight n die


	21. crash landing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt fill from tumblr: “Hey, on the ground there it says you’re a gullible shit.” from user projectshad0w. written by alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written by alex. notes from him: in the docs it's titled as "Sox: haha got em Tripshot, crying: YOUR ALMOST DEAD ASSHOLE"

    “Brace yourself-” The warning over the comms came seconds too late, a barrage of rocket fire making direct hits onto the LAAT and sending it spiraling away. A metallic creaking sound was all the warning the clone inside was given before one of the blast doors tore off and exposed him to the uncontrolled descent. Tripshot jerked against the wall, managing to grab hold of the wall-bars before the LAAT jerked again and nearly flung him out. As the ship hurtled downwards Tripshot braced himself against the wall, hoping desperately his side of the ship wouldn’t get destroyed in the crash.

    Seconds later, chaos and noise filled the air as the ship hit the ground, skidding on its belly for a few moments before it hit something on the ground and flipped over to its side. A terrible crunching followed- assumedly the wing tearing off, and then below was the rushing of the ground as the ship slid on its side.

    What felt like an eternity passed, and the ship shuddered to a halt. Tripshot pried himself loose from where he had wedged into the corner and gripped the bars, looking up at where the other blast door blocked the only exit. He glanced around, hoping to spot the emergency kit when the comm crackled to life, albeit very staticky.

    “-e? Tr-shot –ude?”

    Tripshot banged on the side of his helm, wincing but relieved when it actually somehow managed to clear the signal up.

    “Respond, asshole, or I’ll die too just to kick your ass,” came Sox’s voice, the pilots voice tight with both pain and worry.

    “Right here, pisshat, I’m not dead yet. You’d know, trust me,” Tripshot replied, relieved to hear his brother despite the pain in his voice. He had intentionally put off even thinking about the pilot, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to move if he even thought Sox was..

    “Can you get out?” Sox’s voice broke through his thoughts, and Tripshot glanced up at the closed blast door.

    “The other blast door’s still shut, and the one that tore off is ground facing- can you try opening the shields?” Tripshot replied, beginning to try to clamber up the former back wall to get to where the shield would open. The comm was quiet for a moment, and then Sox’s voice crackled back into his ear.

    “G-got it. Should be opening soon- careful. Careful.” The pain in Sox’s voice had increased, and Tripshot could hear his brother struggling to keep his voice steady and clear. Before he could respond, a screeching noise alerted him to the fact that the door had slowly begun to open despite being clearly damaged. Tripshot waited for it to open enough for him to pull himself out, carefully crawling along the side of the ship towards the pilots seat.

    Sox was sat still buckled in the pilots seat, though part of the console had broken off and seemed to be pressing heavily on his side. He startled when Tripshot rapped the window to get his attention, but the helmet blocked any expression he may have made.

    “Stuck- It should be opening, but it just- just dislodged and-and I can’t move enough to try,” Sox’s voice came through the comms- he was starting to sound faint and out of breath. Tripshot pulled off his helmet and set it to the side of the ship, hoping that seeing his face would offer his brother some comfort.

    “Don’t worry, Sox’ika, I’ll get it open and get you out,” Tripshot promised, snorting at the pained grumble of “You’re not older than me,” from Sox. Instead, he focused on trying to pry the glass off, wedging his weapon underneath but not managing to budge it at all.

    “A fracture here- might be able to shatter it,” Sox suggested, gesturing with his head towards the ground-facing side where a large fracture had formed, though judging by the sound that escaped into the comm, it wasn’t pleasant to move like that.

    Tripshot grabbed his helmet and tossed it down, clumsily sliding off the ship and to the ground below. He searched the ground for several moments before he heard Sox mutter something and glanced up.

    “What? I didn’t get that, wanna repeat Sox?”

    “I said… on the ground there…”

    Tripshot looked at the ground, confused as to what he was supposed to be going for. There were some rocks and debris, but nothing big enough or otherwise of note. He looked back up at Sox with a confused look, hearing Sox laugh wheezily through the comms.

    “Says you’re a gullible shit.”

    Tripshot glared up at Sox, though he couldn’t fight the relieved grin creeping up on his face. “At least I know you aren’t dying, you’re alive enough to be a pain in my ass,” Tripshot replied, returning to searching the ground, widening his search. After several moments of searching, he found a hefty piece of wing and dragged it over, struggling to lift it enough to bash it against the glass. It took a few tries but eventually the fractured glass broke and Tripshot was able to create a large enough opening to fit a person.

    “I’m coming up, hold tight,” He called up, once again ignoring Sox’s grumbling of “where else would I go?” and struggled to climb up. The glass broke a few more times, but he was able to get steady footing after a few moments.

    “I’m lifting up, try and unbuckle,” Tripshot said as he pushed against the broken console, Sox hissing in pain as it moved, but clumsily unbuckling himself anyway. He nearly slipped out of the seat, but caught himself on the glass for a few seconds, letting out a shout as he cracked and broke beneath him. Sox crumbled to the ground and lay still, Tripshot jumping down after and tugging off the pilots helmet. Sox’s face was pale, but he was definitely still awake and alive, and Tripshot felt a rush of relief at that. He pressed his forehead against Sox, letting out a sigh as Sox reached up to pat him on the shoulder.

    “Another fantastic landing, huh?”

    “I’m going to kick your ass, Sox.”


	22. name stories (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some of the 881st share where they got their names from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written by taylor. if you're curious about any of the others' names, let me know what one you want and they'll be in the next name story.

scatter wandered through the halls, casually greeting the officers and crew as he passed. he made sure to walk as if he knew where he was going and as if he had purpose, when truthfully, scatter was lost once more. postive he had finally remembered the way to the command center, he had left his wrist-bound holomap in the bunks but unfortunately after the third turn he didn’t remember, scatter had to admit to himself he was lost.

“---”

faint voices caught scatters attention and he paused to see if he could catch it again. the voice was at least several rooms down but scatter was certain it was one of the others, and since they knew he always got lost, he had no problem asking them for help. he followed the voice down the hall and through another turn until he came to a door propped open with a blank helmet.

“--and so of course that’s a dumb mistake to make once, let alone repeatedly so-”

it was definitely tripshot, scatter thought, and he knocked on the door and peeked his head in, expecting to see him chatting to sox or another. instead, he found everyone- the main unit and the honeydew unit he had been assigned to- all bunched together in the small room.

“hey! if it isn’t the lost lamb of halcyon! we were wondering if we should send out a search and rescue on our own flagship, buddy,” sox joked from where he was sitting with his legs up against the wall and his back flat on the floor. tripshot waved him in, and scatter hesitantly took up a space beside honeydew.

“what do you mean? i just got lost and was wandering around,” scatter replied, rubbing the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed.

“oh! did you not get our message?” tripshot asked and scatter held up his bare wrist, looking apologetic. tripshot shrugged it off, “we were just telling stories and crud. i just started telling sox’s name story- lemme restart.”

scatter got comfortable where he was, hotwire passing him a folded blanket. tripshot launched into the story, starting back at the top, “so this was back during one of the training inspections..”

 

_ the cadets all stood in a neat line, waiting for the jedi and kaminoan trainers to inspect them and deem them ready to begin more intensive battle training. one eagerly bounced on his feet until the one to his left jabbed him in the side, the cadet giving the other a dirty look but facing forward once more as the doors slide open and the jedi entered. she was flanked by a pair of kaminoan trainers and the three begun to make their way down the line. _

_ she stopped at him and he tensed up, firmly looking forward and standing straight as he could, but she remained in front of him. after a few seconds, he hesitantly spoke up. _

_ “i’m cadet 5489, sir! is there anything i can do for you, sir!” _

_ “cadet 5489, you may want to adjust your uniform when you enter training. the socks are intended to go inside the boot, not the other way around,” the jedi’s voice held a hint of amusement, and 5489 looked down in dismay to see that he had indeed put his socks over his boots in his rush to get ready. _

_ “aw, not again!” _

 

“...and so right in front of general shaak-ti, this dipshit goes, ‘aw, not again!’ which started some of the others down the line giggling, though they shut up pretty quick,” tripshot continued, “so we all jokingly started reminding him about socks- eating? better make sure he doesn’t eat his sock on accident. washing up? better make sure he takes ‘em off before he gets in the ‘fresher.”

“no matter what i did, it was followed by a reminder about socks. of course, i never actually broke that habit,” sox took over, “in a rush, i always have to double check my socks- hell ghost’s caught me a couple times. and thus sox became my name.”

“have you ever gone out on the field with your socks like that?” scatter asked curiously.

“he has.” ghosts’ voice drifted over from a corner, and scatter glanced over to see the commander with his attention deep in a few datapads. he glanced up for a few moments to clarify, “thankfully, i just told him to keep his ass in the pilots seat, so we didn’t have to worry.” sox raised his hands in a double thumbs up before dropping them back to his side. the room was quiet for a few moments more before honeydew spoke up.

“my name’s pretty basic- there was this market on a planet we were assigned to…”

_ “hey look, these fruit all have little number tags,” ct-4034 pointed out, holding up an orange, “this one’s fourty-twelve!” ct-4065 gave his companion an amused look, “what, like our numbers? congratulations, you’re an orange now.” 4034 laughed and shoved his brother playfully, and began reading off numbers as they walked through the fruit market. _

__ _ “this one’s a.. squash, it’s fourty-seven-sixty-eight!” _

__ _ “ah 4945, good old walnuts.” _

__ _ the pair continued on their patrol for several more moments before 4034 dragged them both over to a booth with peppers and melons, “look! 4034- that’s my number!” _

__ _ the boothkeeper laughed at that and picked up the melon 4034 was pointing towards, “it’s a honeydew melon, here, try a piece!” and cut the melon open and handed them both a slice. 4034 devoured it while 4065 ate his more slowly, looking over the other produce. _

__ _ “..hey look, this one’s mine- 4065,” the trooper pointed out and the boothkeeper looked over again. _

__ _ “that one’s a green pepper, some people eat them plain but they’re better cooked and stuffed with meat! here, you guys take some back with you..” _

 

__ “...so that’s how we picked up our names!” honeydew finished up, piper giving a tired nod of confirmation.

“wait, i get honeydew, but your number was for pepper?” pup asked curiously, and piper gestured for honeydew to elaborate before settling back with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

“it was originally pepper, and we went with that for a while, but there was some issue with some reports made where he was marked down as pipper, and then that evolved into piper, and that’s where we’ve stayed since!” honeydew clarified as he reached around scatter to grab a spare blanket and toss it over the now-dozing captain.

“if we’re telling name stories, how about yours, ghost?”

the commander looked up again from the reports he had continued to file, and without hesitation hurled one across the room to smash against the light switch. the lights turned off, the switch undoubtedly broken, and they all turned back to ghost in confusion. the straight-faced commander held a lit datapad under his face in place of a flashlight during a scary story. he lifted his free hand into the air, and said one single word.

“boo.”

the room was silent for a few moments until sox broke down laughing, tripshot following shortly after until the small room had the entire groups laughter bouncing around its walls. piper groaned in complaint and ghost settled back down to continue his reports, but for a moment scatter was pretty sure he saw the smallest smile on the clone commanders face.


	23. anything at all.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it doesn't come naturally to him. he's had to learn everything he's felt, because otherwise, he'd feel nothing.

on kamino, clones are identical. they wear the same outfit, have the same haircut, walk the same way. out on the field they gain a sense of individuality- cut and dye their hair, tattoos, armor decor. when they start, all they have to keep themselves from their brothers is their own personality. some get names early, from their own jokes and mischief. most are light-hearted, some are cruel. some are obvious.

ghost’s is obvious. before being picked out for the commander program, he already had his name given by his batchmates. the quiet way he walks, the way he seems to just suddenly show up, they joke that he’s haunting them and he takes the nickname ghost. some of the others pick up on it in other ways.

“i hear he’s never felt a thing.” “never?” “i hear that when he saw his batchmate die in that freak accident, that he didn’t even cry. didn’t even blink.” “that’s cold.”

ghost spends hours in his office even after his reports are long finished. he knows everyone is in the mess hall goofing around, and that’s why he’s here. his presence seems to be a fun killer, and he can’t figure it out. he spends hours watching videos that explain things that he should know as if he was a droid trying to understand how living beings worked.

he must be defective. something must have been wrong with him. why else would he struggle to muster even a small smile when everyone else would be in tears with laughter? why he couldn’t even have water-y eyes when his brothers mourn the loss of one of their own? why else would even anger, apparently one of the easiest things to feel, never be anything more than a small burning in his chest.

distantly, he hears the door open, and the careful steps of someone walking in. the computer highlights simmons face, and the worry is clear. ghost clenches the datapad in his hand tighter. if ghost felt nothing, then simmons felt everything. the medic settled on the desk, giving ghost that look of understanding pity that made ghost feel that weak burning of annoyance.

“i’m fine.” of course he was fine. he couldn’t be anything else- can’t be sad if you don’t feel sad. can’t be mad if you don’t feel anger.

“it’s okay to not be.” ghost knew that. and stars, what he wouldn’t give to not be fine. what he wouldn’t give to be able to break down in tears. to feel anger fueling his words, or butterflies in his stomach. ghost clenches the datapad harder, and when it cracks, he feels simmons take it away.

“it’s okay. you’ll be okay” ghost knows simmons is trying to help, and makes himself breathe. he lets the medic pull him out of the dark office and down the hall, into where they all slept, and he lays down where simmons asks him to. he does this with the others when they feel bad, when they disconnect. it’s entirely platonic, familial. the way simmons settles down with him is similar to how cadets would form cuddle-piles, and ghost wishes he felt some comfort from it.

instead, he lies awake as simmons falls asleep. and as he carefully wipes at his face, ghost wishes he could mourn for how all he feels is numb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this takes place with the original 881st, before even tripshot and sox.   
> bit of a personal fic.


	24. it'll be fun, trust me. / now? now you listen to me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the start of a tradition by the original 881st.
> 
> /
> 
> hotwire and kicker need a get along shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fictober days one and three. prompts are in the title.  
> day one is five-fifty words, day three is six-eighty-seven words

day one:  
ghost let simmons drag him down the hall, not bothering to protest more than he originally had. the medic had appeared in his doorway with a determined look on his face, and ghost knew there was no chance he’d finish the reports he still had to write and file. simmons had all but physically carried the commander out of the room and hauled him off into the ship.

“so. are we going anywhere or are you just trying to tire me out. i’m not going to sleep until i finish that stack of reports, simmons,” ghost finally spoke up, not flinching when simmons levelled him with a look that could probably kill an average man. still, he didn’t say anything until they stopped at a door to an empty room, if ghost was remembering correctly.

“look. shut off commander brain, turn on chaotic dumbass brain. relax. it’ll be fun, trust me,” simmons spoke as he opened the door, voice low. “behold, the beloved commander ghost!” simmons raised his voice and shoved ghost through and followed, the door clicking shut behind them. doubleshot caught ghost by the hand and dragged him down to sit beside him, simmons settling on doubleshots’ other side.

“ey, ghostie! we were jus’ tellin’ the shinies all about you!” doubleshot wrapped an arm around ghost’s neck and noogied him playfully. the two shinies in question looked on with wide-eyes at the clone harassing his commander and ghost just letting him.

“you guys always like this?” one asked, eyes lighting up while the other looked as if he was already plotting things, and ghost heard tide giggling from somewhere nearby. from where ghost was pressed up against doubleshots’ chest, he could feel the heavy gunner laughing as well, and ghost wiggled so he could rest his head on doubleshots leg instead.

“yeh, we’re prety lax. that’s cos’ ghost doesn’t do anything but reports so we all dick around instead. ghost, this is sox and 5490, but i’m sure you’ve met.” doubleshot replied, “we’ve been catching the shinies up. team lore and that shit. the good junk.”

“like how- how ghost migh’ look like he’s gunna kill you. but he’z not. promiz. mozzly.” came tide’s voice, sounding floaty and slurry. ghost moved his head to peer over doubleshots lap and past simmons, who looked far too amused to nothing to be going on, and at tide. he was splayed out belly-down on the ground, cheek pressed to the floor, arms and legs spread out wide or at least as much as he could in the small room.

“... you okay tide?”

“umma starfeesh.”

ghost raised an eyebrow and gave simmons a questioning look. the medic mouthed, ‘painkillers’ back at him, and ghost made a noise of understanding. tide had always reacted strangely to any sort of painkiller or sedative, so simmons had probably set up this whole buddy pile to keep him from wandering while doped up.

“so anyway, stories! so this one time…” doubleshot started up again, and ghost let himself zone out instead. he could settle a bit. turn his brain off. out of the corner of his eye he could see simmons shit-eating grin, and reminded himself to bother the medic about reports. for now, he could watch the two shinies listen wide-eyed to doubleshot exaggerating stories.

 

day three:

 

hotwire stumbled through the brush, fists clenched at his side. behind him, he could hear kicker following, stomping through the woods behind him. the two were beat up, bruised, and frankly apart from kicker and fourty, probably the worst two to get stuck together.

“stop fucking stomping about like a whiny little padawan, hotty-totty, you’ll alert all the droids in a fuckin’ sixty-mile radius to our position,” he heard kicker snarl at him as the other medic shoved past, and hotwire barely managed to keep himself from tripping into a painful looking bush. the other medic growled, but kicker didn’t even look back.

“yeah, cos’ you’re so much more sneaky, screaming around like the unhinged bastard you are,” hotwire muttered before following after, “don’t fucking call me hotty-totty, or i’ll call you something stupid. kicksy-sticks,” he said louder, and kicker turned and gave him a withering look.

“do i fucking look like that dipshit from the five-oh-first? you’re such a fucking pain in the ass.”

hotwire’s fists shook, and for a moment he really wanted to clock the other in the jaw, just wail on him. from the look kicker was giving him, the other medic felt the same. instead, hotwire stopped and took a deep breath, imagining the look ghost would give him if he returned and kicker was a fucking mess.

“i’d just have to fix you up anyway,” hotwire muttered as he started walking again, kicker having vanished in the thick underbrush. he shoved past a particularly thick thorned-bramble bush, wincing as it cut at his unprotected face. gingerly, he touched his cheek and groaned when it came away with blood on his fingers.

“where’s that from?” kicker materialized at his side, and hotwire yelped in surprise. they had just been at each others throats, and suddenly kicker seemed to be concerned over a tiny scratch. “just my cheek. nothing to worry about,” hotwire replied, feeling oddly defensive, and kicker groaned.

“you ever fuckin’ read the shit we get? like how the fuckin’ plantlife here is fucking crazy as shit and it eats shit? now we’re going to get some fucking big-ass flower hunting us down because you’re bleeding all over the place,” kicker grabbed hotwire by the arm and started moving quicker, dragging the other medic behind him. hotwire spent a few moments stumbling over his feet while he tried to keep up with kicker, finally catching his step and keeping up.

“i forgot, okay? kind of got my mind busy- look, you lead, i’ll follow, okay?” hotwire tried to sound apologetic even though he wasn’t really sure he had anything to be sorry for, and kicker squeezed his arm tighter until hotwire was pretty sure he’d have an indent in the armor.

“now? now you fuckin’ listen to me? not before when i said, ‘hey, dipshit, don’t go that way because there are bugs bigger than your fuckin’ attitude?’ and got the two of us in this mess?” kicker snarled, yanking hotwire by the arm, “no, that’s just kicker being the pissy guy he is, why would he ever say anything that isn’t purposefully argumentative!”

“i’m pretty sure you’re doing that right now-”

“hotwire, the only person i have ever genuinely tried to kill is fourty. you do not want yourself on that list. trust me.”

hotwire felt a chill run up his back at kickers’ tone, not a hint of joking present. he closed his mouth, instead focusing on keeping up with kicker’s pace. the two travelled in silence for several minutes before hotwire couldn’t help it.

“why do you hate fourty so much? like you seem to really take it past giving someone grief, and especially given what you just said, you really seem to have it out for him… why?”  
kicker didn’t stop moving, but his grip loosened on hotwire.

“we have history. shitty history. i’ve always been an asshole, and one day he said that he wished kamino would’ve just-” kicker cut himself off, jaw clenched. “he wished kamino would have just fixed me.”

hotwire fell silent, the implication of what kicker meant sinking in.

“oh.”

“yeah. oh.”


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the last time we updated this was in october oops
> 
> written by alex based off an ask we got forever ago on tumblr!!! sorry its been so long dgbbgb

    “Hotwire, we should-”

“I’m busy, come back later.”

“Hey, Hotty-Totty, me and So-”   
“Can’t, I’ve got reports to file.”

“Not even to bother Ki-”

“Reports, Tripshot.”

 

“Hotwire, can we-”

“For the last FUCKING time, I’m busy! I can’t piss around, I have to-” Hotwire cut himself off mid-shout as he whirled around to see a petrified Scatter with Pup peeking over his shoulder, both wide-eyed at the outburst. He took a step forward and started to apologize, but before the medic could get a word out, the pair bolted.

“Damn it.” Hotwire groaned to himself and turned back to his desk with reports scattered all over it. He took a seat and thunked his head down on the table, holopads rattling, and waited for his fate.

 

Judgement came moments later by a quiet knocking and a message ping to his text-comm, though the messages weren’t from who the medic was expecting.

::=^-n-^=::

::Can I come in::

::I’ll fend Ghost off::

Hotwire shot back a quick text confirmation and returned his head to the table as the door whooshed open, and Tabbi’s careful steps approached. Hotwire didn’t raise his head at all, not even when Tabbi put a hand on his back, gently rubbing soothing circles into the distressed medics back. They both lingered in the silence for a few more moments before Tabbi pulled up a nearby chair and scooted closer, leaning against his brother.

 

“You know that Piper is okay, right? And that Keip just need to sleep for a little while, and he’ll be okay? Jedi bounce back fast,” Tabbi tried to sound reassuring, but Hotwire just turned his face away, staring stubbornly into the wall. They fell back into silence for a few moments before Tabbi tried again.

“It probably happens a lot, especially lately. We were just coming off action to do a supply re-stock, there really was nothing extra you could have had or done,” Tabbi felt Hotwire stiffen beside him, but before he could say anything, the medbay doors whooshed open again and Tabbi felt himself wish literally anyone else had entered besides who stood in the entrance.

Kicker stalked into the medbay, ignoring the nervous way Tabbi shifted and how Hotwire glared at him. The other medic shuffled through the supplies in the nearest cabinet before slamming a stitch-kit on the table.

“You still pissy about being under-supplied when we got fuckin’ ambushed? You know what an ambush is? Tabbi do me a favour and rip open this packet for me,” Kicker didn’t even pause between removing the bandages from his arm, starting to stitch up the large cut, and getting right to the issue at hand.

Tabbi hesitantly ripped open the packet of bacta-gel as Hotwire did his best to burn a hole into Kickers head, but the other medic paid him no mind and simply rubbed the gel directly into the wound and wiped off the excess, starting to stitch it up.

“Hotwire said you’re not really supposed to use bacta like that,” Tabbi eyed Kicker nervously, and Kicker shrugged.

“”He sure doesn’t seem to be saying anything about it right now.”   
“Well-”

“Fuck this. It’s fucking fine, it’s whatever, you’re fine, I’m fine, we’re all fucking fine!” Hotwire suddenly burst out, head whipping off the table. Tabbi flinched away from the outburst, but Kicker continued as if nothing was happening. “Everything is good! It’s cool, nothing is happening! We’re not practically drifting in space waiting for someone to give us a tow, I’m not freaking out! We’re all fucking FINE.” Hotwire’s voice raised in volume as he spoke, sounding somewhat hysterical. His last words were accented by him slamming his hands down on the desk, sending reports clattering to the ground and causing Kicker to jam the stitching needle into his arm.

Tabbi clutched a rescued report like a lifeline as Hotwire trembled, not because he was afraid, but because such high emotions were channelling through him. Kicker simply stared at the other medic and plucked the needle out of his arm and swiftly finished stitching up his arm. With one quick movement, he grabbed both of Hotwire’s hands and pulled them, forcing the other to clumsily slide across the table.

Kicker pinned him to the ground, demeanor unusually calm and surprisingly gentle for how the medic often acted. Hotwire attempted to struggle, but Kicker held firm, and Tabbi wasn’t sure if he should call Ghost for help or not.

“Are you done?”

“Kicker, I’m going to fucking-”   
“I said, are you done.”

“Fuck you!”

“Look, we both can’t be irrational asshole medics. Look, you’re scaring Tabbi- not that that’s hard.”   
“Wh- Hey!”   
Tabbi protested, but Kicker’s words seemed to finally settle Hotwire. The white-haired medic thunked his head back on the ground and sighed angrily, “I’m done.”

“Good. Get off the fucking floor,” Kicker yanked him up, Hotwire stumbling at the quick movement but staying upright. Kicker roughly pushed him towards an empty bed and made him sit, and Hotwire felt as if he was a scolded cadet instead of an experienced medic, and scowled.

A little gentler, Kicker nudged Tabbi over to an empty bed as well, and sat himself at the desk.

“My medbay now, since you’re being an intolerable brat, Hotwire, and you’re not an official medic, Tabbi. So I’m telling you all to fucking sleep. Get some fucking rest, Piper’s fine, the furry idiots fine, the only one who’s not fucking fine you.” Hotwire started to protest and Kicker whipped a pillow at him with such force that it stung when it made contact.

“Seriously. I could hear Sox and Tripshot fussing, and then I see Scatter-Brained and Puppy-eyes crying to HD that you flipped out on them. I’ll wake you when we get some help or something, and I’ll finish these reports.”

Now in a bed and not at a desk surrounded by work, Hotwire could feel that he was truly exhausted, and his sudden emotional outburst hadn’t helped. Not giving any response, he rolled over on the bed and settled a pillow over his head. He could hear Tabbi doing the same, and then the gentle tapping of a datapad as Kicker got started. Despite the way Kicker had manhandled him, Hotwire felt a flicker of gratefulness to the other, and settled to at least rest his eyes a little, if not sleep.

    “...”

    “...ipped out…”

    Hotwire stirred slightly, bits of words drifting through the haze of sleep he had somehow fallen into. He could feel someone at the foot of the bed, but was still warm and somewhat sleepy, so he settled for just hovering at the edge of sleep as he listened.

    “Don’t fucking wake him up, or I’ll kill you myself. Got it?”

    That was definitely Kicker, and it was clearly about him. Whoever was on the bed gave a silent response, probably a nod based on how the bed moved. Still feeling tired, the medic drifted off again as the conversation continued in hushed voices.


End file.
